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The price of Ethereum (ETH) has surged past $600, following the latest increase in bitcoin’s price. However, another major stepping stone for its latest rally might be the fact that the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group has announced plans to launch ETH futures.
ETH Price Shoots Past $600
The cryptocurrency market is in full charge mode today, and Ethereum doesn’t lag behind. ETH’s price has surged above $600, and it currently trades at around $617, charting an increase of about 5.5% on the day and almost 9% over the past 7 days.
As can be seen on the chart above, the price was consolidating for the past couple of days before finding this rebound.
It’s probably safe to assume that the rally was also assisted by the latest increase in bitcoin’s price, which took for the skies and broke to a new all-time high above $20,000.
However, there might as well be another catalyst.
ETH Futures Coming to CME Group in February 2021
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group announced its plans to launch ETH futures catering to its institutional investors. The date is set for February 2021.
In terms of the contract specification, the official website says that one contract will contain 50 ETH, while an explainer video makes it clear that the contracts will be settled in cash. This means that at the end of the expiration date, investors will receive the dollar equivalent of their contracts rather than the underlying asset itself. This is also how Bitcoin futures on CME work.
The company has also made it clear that it’s the strong customer demand that made them take this path.
As with any new product or service, we made the decision to launch Ether futures based on strong customer demand and a clearly articulated customer need.
Today, ether is the second largest cryptocurrency by both market capitalization and daily volume. Ether futures on a regulated, time-tested exchange can offer a way for investors to hedge risk exposure in the ether cash market – we’re creating a forward curve so investors can better manage price risk. – Reads the official website.
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