By Darrell Martin
It seems everybody wants to jump on the bitcoin bandwagon. As the one of the latest cryptocurrency to hit the trading market, many traders want a piece of the action.
First, there were announcements by Cboe and CME regarding their offerings of bitcoin futures. NASDAQ was not far behind. They reportedly want to get in on the action during the first half of 2018.
NASDAQ is planning to collaborate with Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. to list bitcoin futures and contracts on Nasdaq Futures. The Wall Street Journal reported, “Nasdaq’s bitcoin contract would debut on Nasdaq Futures, or NFX, a marketplace that the New York-based exchange group launched in 2015 that until now has mainly focused on energy trading, according to the people familiar with the situation.”
An article that appeared on cryptocoinsnews.com, by Joseph Young quotes former Nymex executive John D’Agostino as saying, “Every research department of every regulated exchange is saying, ‘Can we do this? The majority of costs associated with that are marketing. If people want to trade this thing, why wouldn’t you? This is a gift from the heavens.”
The majority of the December 2017 issue of Modern Trader focuses on bitcoin. In an article titled “Bitcoin Futures are Coming”, Dave Shulz says, “All the institutions would like exposure to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in an existing well-known and regulated market structure.” He is director of business development of global client services at Cboe and the Cboe point person on bitcoin futures.
No matter which trading exchange is chosen, bitcoin is a very nascent and volatile product. Many say it’s a bubble, a fad, even a fraud. Others are proponents of all forms of cryptocurrencies and have endless data to back up their beliefs. Remember the best thing to do before trading anything is to take the time for education. Understand the risks and rewards of the particular market. Demo trade before risking real money.
Visit Apex Investing for free trading education.