Bitcoin Futures (BTC): +950%

The Bitcoin bull-run coupled with the competitor-less Bitcoin Futures market saw the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s [CME] Bitcoin Futures surge by a whopping 950 percent over the past five days of the month.

As per the exchange’s data, the CME saw a massive 22,542 contracts traded on its exchange on April 4, with each contract accounting for 5 BTC. This would mean that over $560 million, given Bitcoin’s price at over $5,000, was traded in the form of Bitcoin Futures in the period.

On April 1, Monday, prior to Bitcoin’s $5,000 ascendance, the number of contracts traded was a mere 2,162. A day later, when BTC rose by 15 percent and the collective market added over $20 billion overnight, the contracts increased by 455.73 percent to total 12,015 contracts.

An additional 5,050 contracts were traded on Wednesday. Bitcoin’s price continued to hover close to, and at times over $5,000, leading many to believe that this pump was not a temporary shock and hence the contracts, on April 4, reached 22,542, a massive 942.64 percent higher than the amount at the beginning of the month.

The Bitcoin futures market, as a whole, was going through a tumultuous time since the crypto-winter set in during the close of 2018. February 2019, saw the top exchanges, CBOE and CME record their lowest Bitcoin futures trading volume to date. After a successful early-2018, the derivatives market seemed to lose steam, as the price-decline began and eclipsed in February.

March 2019 also saw CBOE pull out of the XBT race by delisting their Bitcoin Futures for the same month. This exit was due to the falling prices of the coins in the market and the overwhelming drop of CBOE BTC Futures volume compared to that of CME.