2017-12-11bloomberg.com

``Futures on the world's most popular cryptocurrency surged as much as 26 percent in their debut session on Cboe Global Markets Inc.'s exchange, triggering two temporary trading halts designed to calm the market. Initial volume exceeded dealers' expectations, while traffic on Cboe's website was so heavy that it caused delays and temporary outages. The website's problems had no impact on trading systems, Cboe said. Bitcoin's spot price rose.

"It is rare that you see something more volatile than bitcoin, but we found it: bitcoin futures," said Zennon Kapron, managing director of Shanghai-based consulting firm Kapronasia.

...

"It was smooth, and bitcoin traders don't seem to be put off by futures," said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst in London at online trading firm Oanda. "There was a fear that short selling would have an adverse impact on price, but we haven't seen that yet."

...

The roughly $1,300 difference reflects not only the novelty of the asset but also the difficulty of using the cash-settled futures to trade against the spot, strategists said.

"In a normal, functioning market, good old arbitrage would settle this," Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank A/S in Hellerup, Denmark, said by email. "If they were deliverable you could arbitrage the life out of it."



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