Binance, the second-largest crypto exchange by daily traded volume, has made a strategic investment in crypto derivatives exchange FTX. According to a Dec. 20 announcement, Binance has made both an equity investment in FTX and is taking a long term position in the exchange’s native asset, FTX Token (FTT). “Positive competition” Within the scope of the strategic partnership, Binance’s backing will aim to drive sustainable growth in FTX’s ecosystem. While Binance has not itself disclosed the sum of its investment, Sam Bankman Fried — the founder of FTX and head of its affiliate Alameda Research, a quantitative trading firm and …

Paris-based asset management firm Napoleon AM announced the launch of a regulated Bitcoin (BTC) fund, the Napoleon Bitcoin Fund. The company announced in a press release that the fund was created on Nov. 8 and is a specialized professional fund under French law. The company claims that its product is one of the first regulated vehicles giving exposure to Bitcoin’s price movements. The product — with daily liquidity — aims to provide portfolio diversification to institutional and professional investors. The fund replicate the performance of futures listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in cash settlement. High hopes for Bitcoin’s potential …

Binance, the second-biggest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume at press time, now supports Bitcoin (BTC) futures trading on its new iOS app. After Binance initially launched its two futures testnet platforms on Sept. 2, the exchange now allows its users to trade Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) futures contracts via its newly released iOS application, according to a blog post on Dec. 9. BTC and ETH futures trading is also available on Android According to the firm, Binance iOS app users can now trade BTC/USDT contracts at up to 125x leverage, while ETH/USDT contracts are capped at 50x leverage. The …

Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange OKEx announced that it will launch crypto options trading on Dec. 27. In a press release on Dec. 9, the exchange said that the addition of options makes OKEx the “first crypto exchange to offer C2C, spot, futures, perpetual swap, and options trading under the same roof.” The options will allow the platform’s users to buy or sell an underlying asset after paying a premium. While real options trading will begin on Dec. 27, simulated trading is scheduled to start in just three days, on Dec. 12. A major upgrade for OKEx To implement options, the firm …

Eight former core developers from financial services company Morgan Stanley have launched Phemex, a new cryptocurrency derivatives trading platform, in Singapore. In a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Dec. 4, the former Morgan Stanley developers claim the platform is ten times faster than traditional crypto trading platforms, while offering 100x leverage to both retail and institutional investors in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP) perpetual contracts. Exchange is “on par with Nasdaq” In the near future, these contracts will reportedly also be backed by traditional financial products, such as stock indexes, interest rates, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, and …

Bitcoin (BTC) futures open interest on digital asset platform Bakkt has hit a new all-time high. According to a Dec. 3 Twitter post published on Dec. 3 by Bakkt Volume Bot — a Twitter account dedicated to reporting Bakkt trading volumes — Monday’s open interest on Bakkt Bitcoin futures reached a new all-time high of $6.5 million. In futures markets, open interest is the number of open contracts in the market and is often used to indicate the health of the market. When there is a large amount of open interest, new or additional capital is flowing in. Regularly breaking …

Major global investment bank JPMorgan has developed a new solution for derivatives designed to speed up cash and collateral transfers. The tool was developed in partnership with California-based fintech firm Baton Systems and aims to enable the real-time movement of transfers to multiple clearinghouses, the firm announced Nov. 14. The current process requires collateral custodians to manually coordinate multiple systems and reports. Integrated with JPMorgan’s proprietary automation system, the new solution reportedly eliminates manual intervention in the collateral process and therefore expedites the collateral workflow. According to the announcement, the platform automates margining and collateral flows and allows users to …

Crypto futures trading volume now reportedly amounts to nearly 50% of the value of spot trading on crypto markets, according to Bloomberg. 13 exchanges analyzed Citing volume data from 13 major global crypto exchanges, Bloomberg reported on a massive growth of cryptocurrency futures markets Oct. 31. The analyzed exchanges include institutional digital asset platform Bakkt, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group (CME), Binance, Bitfinex, the Huobi Derivative Market (DM), Kraken, FTX, Bitz, Deribit, CoinFlex, Bybit, OKEx and BitMEX. First ever Bitcoin futures launched in late 2017 Spot trading is simply buying or selling a commodity or, in this case, a crypto …

CoinGecko announced that it is launching its own cryptocurrency derivatives section. In a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Oct. 29, the data aggregator said that its new derivatives section will offer additional stats so users can track more than 100 derivatives products offered by over 20 derivatives exchanges. CoinGecko’s offering is the first of its kind According to CoinGecko, this offering is the first to provide “free, unimpeded access to vital aggregated crypto derivatives data”, such as price, interest, funding rates, trading volume and more. CEO of CoinGecko, TM Lee, said: “This year, we have observed strong growth in …

Just a decade ago, speculating on cryptocurrency prices meant figuring out a way to buy Bitcoin (BTC) and add it to your blockchain wallet. This was a feat that was worthy of bragging rights: In 2010, there were few exchanges, low liquidity and barely any infrastructure, meaning that crypto was less a financial instrument and more a digital novelty. Larger centralized exchanges unlocked the idea that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have relative value and made it possible to speculate on their value versus fiat currency. Since then, a slow proliferation of a variety of crypto derivatives has transpired. This has …

Cryptocurrency exchange OKEx plans to launch Tether (USDT) futures margin trading in October, the firm confirmed in an email to Cointelegraph on Sept. 23. An OKEx spokesperson said that Tether futures are scheduled to be launched next month, though the exact launch date has not been set as of yet. They explained: “We are planning to launch USDT margin futures. But at this stage, we are aiming to launch in October and still pending on the exact launch schedule.” As Cointelegraph reported earlier today, OKEx has refuted fresh allegations of manipulative practices such as wash trading on its platform. Crypto …

Bakkt has announced the coming launch of its much-anticipated platform for daily and monthly futures in the United States in a blog post on Aug. 16. Having received approval from the necessary regulators, the launch is scheduled for Sept. 23. Bakkt’s physically delivered futures have been the subject of a great deal of anticipation, with the company initially announcing its launch August 2018 before being subject to repeated delays over compliance issues. Satisfying the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has proven particularly challenging. The company began testing in earnest on July 22, as Cointelegraph reported at the time. Per the …