Eurex was the first exchange in Europe to offer Bitcoin index futures in April 2023. After this successful implementation, Eurex now expands the trusted path to crypto with the launch of Options on FTSE Bitcoin Index Futures. This is another major milestone in Eurex’s ambition to offer secure access to cryptocurrencies in a regulated market environment.
Regulated access to cryptocurrencies
The cryptocurrency market has undergone a volatile period in the past year. This has highlighted the need of a credible, safe, and regulated marketplace supporting the trading and risk management of digital assets. Institutional investors have shown broad interest for this new offering, based on a robust underlying index from our established index partner FTSE Russell, which is supported by Eurex Clearing, an AA-rated clearing house in Europe.
Randolf Roth, Member of the Executive Board of Eurex Frankfurt AG:
“Investors need robust trading and clearing safeguards when engaging in the crypto market. Eurex is a renowned regulated exchange, with a trusted platform and appropriate safeguards offering multi-asset class trading. With our extended crypto derivatives suite, we offer a trusted path to crypto.”
Shawn Creighton, Director of Index Derivatives Solutions at FTSE Russell, an LSEG business:
“The right derivatives strategy starts with the right index, and our digital asset indices apply the same rigorous policy and governance framework used across our equity and fixed income products. FTSE Russell is excited to support this expansion of the digital assets’ ecosystem and it reinforces the importance of the vetting methodology we have created in collaboration with Digital Asset Research (DAR), that has set a standard for digital asset and exchange index inclusion.”
New contracts are listed as Options on Futures in EUR and USD, with the respective Bitcoin index future as underlying, equivalent to 1 Bitcoin. Both Options and Futures expire at the same time (17:00 CET) on the last Friday of the month. Alongside monthly and quarterly maturities, weekly expiring contracts will also be available to trade. FTSE Bitcoin Index (USD & EUR) is the reference rate for the final settlement for the underlying futures contracts. It is determined as the volume time weighted average of the FTSE DAR Digital Asset Price over the 15-minute period before the fixing time. Liquidity will be supported by orderbook and over-the-counter liquidity providers.
Bitcoin index futures with high volume since launch
With the support of Liquidity Providers and Clearing Members, Bitcoin index futures were successfully launched in April 2023. Since its introduction more than 50,000 contracts and USD 1.3 bn notional were traded. Bitcoin index Options will enable investors to hedge their Bitcoin exposure and deploy new trading strategies. Additionally, options provide investors access to the Bitcoin volatility risk premium in a regulated environment with institutional grade trading and clearing safeguards.
Featured image credit: Edited from freepik
