CME Group finalized the official launch of Bitcoin futures contracts on December 11, BTC broke $8,200 and hit a new high

For Bitcoin investors, Christmas seems to be coming early this year. Last month, the world's largest derivatives market, CME Group, announced that it would launch Bitcoin futures contracts by the end of this year. Now, according to the official website of CME Group, the launch time of Bitcoin futures contracts has been locked in (Eastern Time) December 10, and trading will officially start as early as the next day (December 11).

The company has confirmed the claims, publishing a statement on its website:

“The effective date will be Sunday, December 10, 2017, with contract trading commencing on December 11, 2017, and pending all relevant regulatory review periods, please note that CME will be launching Bitcoin futures.”

Each Bitcoin contract will constitute 5 BTC, and as previously reported by Business Insider, both CME Globex and CME ClearPort systems will use the group’s existing Bitcoin price index. According to the company’s regulations, spot positions are limited to 1,000 contracts.

Regarding the contract, CME explained that the minimum price fluctuation is set at $5/BTC, which means the minimum price fluctuation for each contract is $25. In addition, once the price fluctuation reaches 20%, the contract will stop trading.

This means that CME hopes to bring more stability to the price of Bitcoin over time, thereby reducing the huge price swings currently seen.

Obviously, the participation of such large and well-known institutional investors has brought strong optimism to the Bitcoin market.

As of press time, the price of Bitcoin has exceeded $8,200, setting a new all-time high.

Analysts say that once the CME Bitcoin futures contracts officially begin trading, it will further open the door for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track Bitcoin futures prices.