Bitcoin Futures Surge In First Day Of Trading (npr.org)

On their first day of trading, bitcoin futures surged past $18,000, adding to a streak for the digital currency that began the year at just $1,000 and has nearly tripled in value over the past month alone. From a report: Reuters reports that bitcoin futures, traded through the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), saw January contracts, which opened at $15,460 in New York on Sunday evening, leap to a high of $17,170 during Asian hours. Trading, which began at 6 p.m. ET (5 p.m. CT), was so intense that halts designed to cool volatility were triggered twice on the CBOE. The halts are "not surprising based on the volatility of the underlying [asset]. The futures are behaving as expected and designed," Tom Lehrkinder, senior analyst at consulting firm Tabb Group, was quoted by CNBC as saying.

Comments

So who's buying the bitcoins?

[Kenja]

Can't figure out the buy high, sell low thing that seems to be going on. Could it be the Chinese using Bitcoin to get their cash out of the country now that they can't buy Seattle realestate? Or is it just run of the mill money laundering...

Re:We will see

[EvilSS]

I'd go with amateur speculation investors trying to grab the hype dragon's tail after it's almost passed by. Besides being on OK method to transfer large sums outside the normal banking system, it doesn't have much practical use these days. Insane transaction fees and transaction times make it useless for everyday use. Even before this last week you were looking at $4-$6 per transaction. Last week it peaked at over $26 and even then transactions could take hours to confirm. That makes it useless for pretty much every retail use outside of maybe big-ticket items. Great if you want to buy a Lambo, not so good for buying groceries. It also doesn't help when the exchanges crash when they are needed most during the big price swings. What good is a huge gain if you can't sell to realize the profit.