BTC Price Surge Drags Futures Market, CME’s Trade Volume Hits Record High

The US-based derivative platform has announced that, with the recent rush in the cryptocurrency market, the Bitcoin futures contract trading volume of the exchange has reached a record high.
As revealed by CME Group on Twitter, the exchange recorded trading volume of over 22,500 contracts which is equivalent to 112,700 Bitcoins on 4th April. The notional value of the traded contracts is $546 million.

CME Bitcoin futures had a record trading day on April 4, hitting an all-time high volume of over 22.5K contracts (112.7K equivalent bitcoin), surpassing previous record of over 18.3K (64.3K equivalent bitcoin) on February 19. More futures.

— CMEGroup (@CMEGroup)

Previously, the record was set at over 18,300 contracts, equalling around 64,300 BTC, per day which was achieved on February 19th.
According to Bloomberg, the majority of futures trading was done in Asian trading hours – 12,634 contracts being the exact figure.
Since April 1st, Bitcoin has maintained a bull in the market by surging more than 26 percent. After going below $3,200 last December, each BTC is now trading at around $5,200, according to Coinmarketcap.com.
CME Group was the second in line to introduce Bitcoin futures on December 17th, 2017, only a week after the introduction of a similar instrument by its market rival the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE). Since then, the company has dominated the market and dwarfed the volume of CBOE’s BTC futures.
A Slowdown in the Market
Earlier this year, that the Bitcoin futures volume was declining drastically and, in last December, the combined the market saw the lowest volume since its launch a year ago.
This also forced the CBOE to rethink its business as last month, the exchange instruments in the market.
Despite the slowdown, the market is booming again, and many major players are trying to jump into the market. Coinflex, earlier this year, launched for its clients based in Asian markets.
Intercontinental Exchange’s plan to launch BTC futures, however, was recently . Though the reason was not publicized, media reports are claiming that the US regulator is demanding more public disclosure for the platform’s custodial plans.