CBOE exchange to delist Bitcoin futures amid falling volume

The CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE) will halt the trading of Bitcoin futures once the current contract has expired due to dwindling trade volume.

The exchange cited the need for a review into how digital assets derivatives are being offered for trading, with Bitcoin futures being pulled until a decision is made.

“CFE is not adding a CBOE Bitcoin (USD) (“XBT”) futures contract for trading in March 2019,” the futures exchange said in an announcement on Thursday.

The statement added: “CFE is assessing its approach with respect to how it plans to continue to offer digital asset derivatives for trading. While it considers its next steps, CFE does not currently intend to list additional XBT futures contracts for trading.”

While the exchange has confirmed that there will not be a new futures market launching this March, the previous futures market that is set for expiry in June, XBTM19, will continue trading until that date.

CBOE joined Chicago-based CME Group in listing Bitcoin futures in late 2017, when Bitcoin was priced at around $20,000.

Many hoped that the listing of Bitcoin futures would lead to an influx of institutional money into the digital assets markets, but what happened was to the contrary.

Price eventually topped out at $20,000, falling dramatically in the following months to as low as $5,900 before breaking down to $3,150 in November 2018.

According to John Todaro on Twitter, CBOE’s decision to delist Bitcoin futures could be down to a lack of volume in comparison to CME Group, who commanded the lion’s share of Bitcoin futures volume in the past year.

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