The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has launched its long-awaited ether (ETH) futures contracts, the cryptocurrency native to the blockchain network Ethereum.
Announced in mid-December, ether futures trading began late Sunday, with the February contract registering an opening price of $ 1,669.75. At the time, the spot price was around $ 1,600.
The Chicago Stock Exchange has traded 77 contracts so far, with most of the activity concentrated on February maturity. Futures contracts are legal agreements to buy or sell the active crypto for a predetermined price at a later date.
CME ether futures are settled in cash and based on the exchange rate reference which includes data from the main cryptocurrency exchanges Bitstamp, Coinbase, Gemini, itBit and Kraken.
The world’s first regulated ether future product may attract more institutional demand for the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, driving the recent price hike.
“The first traditional financial institutions that bought BTC are already looking at ETH, if they haven’t already. And rightly so. The most widely used cryptography network + the future of finance + a potential deflationary monetary policy narrative make it extremely attractive, ”Qiao Wang, a cryptocurrency researcher and investor and co-founder of Messari, tweeted on Sunday.
Wang predict ether rising to $ 5,000 or more in the long run. Ether is trading close to $ 1,632 so far, a gain of 1% on the day, reaching record highs above $ 1,700 on Friday.
The cryptocurrency has more than tripled in value since the CME announced plans to list futures contracts on December 16, mimicking the bitcoin increase from $ 6,000 to $ 19,783 seen in the weeks before December 17, 2017, when the exchange started trading. trading bitcoin futures.
Although bitcoin reached the top on the same day and subsequently moved to a year-old bear market, ether will likely remain as an offer. “The market is now more mature, the macro is different and there are different players involved”, trader and analyst Alex Kruger tweeted last week, ruling out a significant ether flaw.
Wang also expressed a similar view on Sunday, warning that betting on a low ether market would be “the worst transaction of his life”.
Patrick Heusser, head of trading at Crypto Finance AG, based in Switzerland, predicts that ether leads the way in the broader market. “I changed positions at ETH / BTC over the weekend and reduced some exposure to DeFi,” Heusser told CoinDesk. “I don’t see any connection to ETH’s futures listing and a specific price action linked to it.”