Goldman Sachs to offer Ethereum futures and options trading in the coming months

After accepting Bitcoin earlier this year, investment bank Goldman Sachs is interested in entering the Ethereum derivatives market. An executive told Bloomberg that the Wall Street giant plans to offer Ethereum options and futures trading services "in the coming months."

This is probably another "really good" scene for Goldman Sachs. Less than four months ago, Goldman Sachs announced that it would restart its cryptocurrency trading desk and support Bitcoin futures trading again.

Crypto futures contracts are transactions that allow people to buy cryptocurrencies at a specified date in the future, with buyers and sellers betting on the future price of crypto assets. For example, if you believe the price of Ethereum will rise, buying futures at today's price of $2,560 could net you a profit.

Futures contracts offer investors the opportunity to bet on the difference between the contract price at the time of signing and the actual market price at a given future date. According to market analysis firm Skew, the Ethereum futures market has a daily trading volume of $23.9 billion.

Similarly, options contracts give traders the opportunity — but unlike futures contracts, not the obligation — to buy cryptocurrencies at a fixed price, and typically expire close to the last Friday of the month. A “call” option refers to the right to buy, while a “put” option refers to the right to sell. The Ethereum options market has a daily trading volume of $6.1 billion, according to Skew.

Goldman Sachs entering the ETH options and futures game will add liquidity to the market, which is good news for current traders.

Mathew McDermott, head of digital assets at Goldman Sachs, said Goldman's move could also be seen as positive news for clients who are not scared by the current depressed market and the uncertain future of cryptocurrencies, and there are many such people.

McDermott cited a survey of 850 institutions last week in which nearly 10% of respondents said they were trading cryptocurrencies and 20% were interested in entering the market.

“We’ve actually seen increased interest from clients eager to trade as they find current market levels to be a slightly more favorable entry point,” Mathew McDermott told Bloomberg. “We see this as a clean-up exercise to reduce some of the excess and leverage in the market, especially from a retail perspective.”

Last year, Goldman Sachs did not consider Bitcoin as a legitimate asset class. A new research report in May this year showed that the bank has conducted in-depth research on cryptocurrencies and changed its previous attitude. It called Bitcoin an "investable asset" with "its own special risks, in part because it is still relatively new and is in the adoption stage."

In March of this year, Goldman Sachs submitted an application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an investment product that could give clients indirect exposure to Bitcoin. The product will track the ARK Innovation ETF, which has a large investment in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust.

However, earlier this month, Jeff Currie, head of commodities at Goldman Sachs, said he considered Bitcoin to be “digital copper” because it has similar volatility and similar risk characteristics, making it unsuitable for safely storing capital.