Bitcoin Futures Hit Record Volume, Wall Street too Jumps on the Latest Bull Rally

Bitcoin bull rally is in swing and Wall Street has jumped in the fray as well as the Bitcoin Futures registered a record volume on Tuesday when Bitcoin climbed $8,000 and its trading volume reached about $7.7 billion. Also, the first time ever the institutional investors swapped bitcoin futures into “physical” bitcoin.

Bitcoin futures registered $530 million worth of trading volume

Bitcoin has been registering significant gains for the past two weeks. At the time of writing, Bitcoin has been trading at $8,264 with a daily trading volume of $5.2 billion.

However, Tuesday has been a crucial day for Bitcoin bulls as that was the day when it jumped $8,000 mark in two months. Starting the day at $7,730, it ended the day at $8,230.

Apart from Bitcoin prices, the trading volume of Bitcoin futures on CME also hit record volumes, The volume reached 12,878 contracts where each contract represents 5 BTC and hence equals to 64,390 BTC registering a value of $530 million.

Bitcoin futures hit record volume of 12,878 contracts on Tuesday, equivalent to 64,390 bitcoins with a notional value of $530M. Learn more about #Bitcoin futures. https://t.co/AIsPztBU6V pic.twitter.com/7RIRL2qZ3A

— CMEGroup (@CMEGroup) July 25, 2018

However, in comparison to the overall trading volume of bitcoin market on Tuesday which was $7.7 billion, it’s still a small number.

Mati Greenspan, a senior analyst at eToro also noted this development with his tweet.

Wall Street was definitely in on the latest rally!!

Tuesday’s volumes on the CBOE was 4007 BTC. The CME futures traded 11,464 contracts, which are worth 5 BTC each, making a total of 57,320 BTC.

At $8,000 per coin that’s a total volume of $490.6 million. Not chump change. pic.twitter.com/5EjMNvEtlX

— Mati Greenspan (@MatiGreenspan) July 25, 2018

Also, read: If CBOE’s Bitcoin ETF gets Rejected, Will it Upend the Raging Bulls?

Wall Street investors swap Bitcoin futures for physical Bitcoin

Bitcoin trading is certainly on the rise as BitMEX, the crypto margin trading platform also reported a record 1 million XBT contracts trading the same day.

In first-ever exchange of the bitcoin futures position into the physical asset itself, two institutional investors took the steps. The institutional-grade crypto exchange itBit and the registered futures commission merchant, E D & F Man Capital Markets have two institutional traders swap their bitcoin futures position in CME for an equivalent amount of “physical” bitcoin.

While this is common in commodities trading, it’s the first time, such an EEP has been reported to the US futures exchange with cryptocurrency as its underlying asset.

Brooks Dudley, from E.D & F Man Capital Markets Inc. shared, “Every day we facilitate EFPs for our clients in physical assets such as soybeans, wheat, and treasuries. EFPs on CME Bitcoin futures mark an important step forward in the maturity of the regulated derivatives market for digital currencies.”

As the market grows, these EEPs might become more common. Also, this will further provide more flexibility to the Wall Street.

Though not directly, the Wall Street is actively making its entry into this nascent market. This huge surge in bitcoin futures volume along with the exchange of futures position to the real asset itself just might fuel Wall Street’s further interest and crypto market.