Cboe Digital to Launch Margined Futures for Bitcoin, Ether

Cboe Digital, the crypto arm of the Chicago Board of Options Exchange, said it will list margined bitcoin [BTC] and ether [ETH] futures starting Jan. 11 after receiving CFTC approval for the products in June.

It will become the first U.S. regulated exchange and clearinghouse to enable both spot and leveraged derivatives trading on a single platform, according to a press release. Margined futures allow traders to use leverage to take a position that exceeds the size of their collateral, whereas regular futures do not.

The new product will be supported by trading firms including B2C2, BlockFills, CQG, Cumberland DRW, Jump Trading Group and Marex.

"Futures have long served as valuable hedging instruments in the traditional financial markets, and we couldn't be more excited to extend access to this tool further into the digital assets markets and offer margined trading for our customers," Cboe Digital President John Palmer said. "We believe derivatives will foster additional liquidity and hedging opportunities in crypto and represent the next critical step in this market's continued growth."

Last August, Cboe Digital named a series of crypto heavyweights as equity partners following the acquisition of trading platform ErisX.

CME, one of Cboe's competitors, listed bitcoin futures in December, 2017. That listing marked the cycle high, with bitcoin topping out at $20,000 on the day before tumbling to $6,000 in the subsequent two months.