Unfilled contracts for Bitcoin futures on the CME surged, resulting in a record high market share.

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23-10-30 15:10

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· CME Bitcoin futures contract open interest rose to $3.54 billion.

· Does the increase in open interest of CME Bitcoin futures contracts represent an increase in institutional buying? Analysts have different opinions.

BlockBeats News, on October 30th, according to CoinDesk, the open interest (OI) of Bitcoin futures contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has risen to $3.54 billion, ranking second among Bitcoin futures and perpetual futures trading platforms, second only to Binance, whose OI is $3.83 billion, 8% higher than CME.

The open interest of CME's spot delivery futures contract has recently surpassed the milestone of 100,000 bitcoins for the first time. At the same time, CME's market share in the bitcoin futures market has risen to 25%, reaching a historic high.

The standard Bitcoin futures contract of CME is equivalent to 5 bitcoins, while the size of the micro contract is one-tenth of a bitcoin. The contract size of standard Ethereum futures is 50 Ethereum, while the size of micro futures is equivalent to 1/10 of an Ethereum. Unlike traditional futures contracts, the open interest of most offshore trading platforms is concentrated on perpetual futures rather than traditional futures contracts. Perpetual futures are futures contracts without expiration dates and use funding rate mechanisms to maintain synchronization with spot prices.

Some observers believe that the rise of CME is a sign of institution-led bullishness. With macroeconomic uncertainty and continued optimism in spot ETFs, Bitcoin prices have risen 27% this month.

And retail investors seem to have played their part, as evidenced by the surge in trading volumes of futures-based ETFs. According to data provided by Matrixport, ProShares' Bitcoin Futures ETF saw a staggering 420% increase in its rolling five-day trading volume last week, reaching $340 million. ProShares ETF primarily invests in CME Bitcoin futures.

The research director of Deutsche Digital Assets, a cryptocurrency asset management platform, André Dragosch, disagrees with this. According to Dragosch, the rise of CME is due to the unwinding of short positions on offshore trading platforms.

Dragosch stated on social media: "CME's share of open interest in Bitcoin futures contracts may have increased relative to other trading platforms, but in terms of Bitcoin valuation, the total open interest of BTC futures and perpetual futures contracts has not increased. This means that long futures positions are not the main driving force behind the recent rise."