CBOE reports hundreds of trades in first hours
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Sunday marked an investment milestone that some experts are calling a major development, with wide-reaching implications for financial markets.
Exchange holding company CBOE launched its trading of bitcoin futures (XBT) at 5pm CT and by 7.15pm reported that 890 contracts had been traded. The opening price was $15,000.
Such was the demand that CBOE posted a message on its website advising that it may be operating slower than usual.
CNN reports that the price of futures was up 10% within 2 hours and 20% around 4 hours after they went live. On both occasions trading was halted for a few minutes in line with exchange rules.
Experts split on value – from none to $100K
There are disparate opinions on the potential and the risk of investing in bitcoin.
George Athanassakos is a professor of finance and holds the Ben Graham Chair in Value Investing at the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario.
Writing in the Globe and Mail he says that valuing bitcoin is tricky because, like gold, it produces no cash flow. He says that traders must ask what is bitcoin actually worth and what does it give them the right to?
“Every generation has to learn things the hard way. It is now the turn of millennials, who love everything digital. Bitcoin, unlike gold, is a digital currency. It's time to learn the risk of fads, be they digital or analog!” the professor writes.
However, one trader believes that the $18,000 value that we have seen for bitcoin recently could be seriously overshadowed in 2018 with a potential price of $100,000!
"I wouldn't be surprised to see a six figure headline," Dave Chapman, Managing Director of cryptocurrency trading firm Octagon Strategy told CNBC.
Of course, there’s price and then there’s value; and if the naysayers are correct then bitcoin and its peers will remain a risky investment.
But billionaire hedge fund manager Mike Novogratz believes the technology base of cryptocurrencies offers potential.
“It’s crazy… I really think the cryptocurrency is going to go up. It’s definitely a bubble. Its underlying technology, blockchain, is here to stay…I think, as an investor, I try to put the speculation aside and look at the underlying infrastructure,” he told BNN.
Next step for futures
For now, the frenzy is being further sparked by futures trading. Monday is the first full day for CBOE’s exchange while rival CME will launch at the weekend.
Exchange holding company CBOE launched its trading of bitcoin futures (XBT) at 5pm CT and by 7.15pm reported that 890 contracts had been traded. The opening price was $15,000.
Such was the demand that CBOE posted a message on its website advising that it may be operating slower than usual.
CNN reports that the price of futures was up 10% within 2 hours and 20% around 4 hours after they went live. On both occasions trading was halted for a few minutes in line with exchange rules.
Experts split on value – from none to $100K
There are disparate opinions on the potential and the risk of investing in bitcoin.
George Athanassakos is a professor of finance and holds the Ben Graham Chair in Value Investing at the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario.
Writing in the Globe and Mail he says that valuing bitcoin is tricky because, like gold, it produces no cash flow. He says that traders must ask what is bitcoin actually worth and what does it give them the right to?
“Every generation has to learn things the hard way. It is now the turn of millennials, who love everything digital. Bitcoin, unlike gold, is a digital currency. It's time to learn the risk of fads, be they digital or analog!” the professor writes.
However, one trader believes that the $18,000 value that we have seen for bitcoin recently could be seriously overshadowed in 2018 with a potential price of $100,000!
"I wouldn't be surprised to see a six figure headline," Dave Chapman, Managing Director of cryptocurrency trading firm Octagon Strategy told CNBC.
Of course, there’s price and then there’s value; and if the naysayers are correct then bitcoin and its peers will remain a risky investment.
But billionaire hedge fund manager Mike Novogratz believes the technology base of cryptocurrencies offers potential.
“It’s crazy… I really think the cryptocurrency is going to go up. It’s definitely a bubble. Its underlying technology, blockchain, is here to stay…I think, as an investor, I try to put the speculation aside and look at the underlying infrastructure,” he told BNN.
Next step for futures
For now, the frenzy is being further sparked by futures trading. Monday is the first full day for CBOE’s exchange while rival CME will launch at the weekend.
