Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE) announced that it will begin offering Bitcoin Continuous Futures (PBT) on the Cboe Futures Exchange (CFE) starting December 15, pending regulatory approval.
Ethereum continuous futures are also offered. Earlier this year, the CBOE announced a Nov. 10 start date, but later postponed the start.
These new futures are designed to give traders long-term access to Bitcoin without the operational issues of traditional futures. Each contract has a 10-year term and is subject to daily cash adjustments. This means that positions are automatically updated daily to reflect the price of the underlying asset.
Effectively, this creates a “permanent” exposure. Traders no longer have to manually roll contracts every few months, which was a major friction point for investors using traditional futures.
CBOE regulated products
“Perpetual futures have historically been traded offshore, so Cboe is excited to help expand access to these products in a regulated, transparent and intermediary-friendly environment in the United States,” said Rob Hocking, global head of derivatives at Cboe. He added that the product is designed to help investors efficiently manage risk, gain leveraged exposure, and execute tactical trades in digital assets.
The new contract will track Bitcoin and Ether using real-time price data from Kaiko, a digital asset market data provider. Every day, open positions are adjusted by the “funding amount” to keep futures prices closely aligned with the spot market.
This ensures that the contract accurately reflects the value of the underlying cryptocurrency. This is important for those who use these contracts to hedge or speculate.
These U.S.-regulated continuation futures remove much of the operational friction that institutional investors face when managing offshore perpetual contracts, said Anne Claire Maurice, managing director of derived data at Kaiko.
“This allows investors to efficiently gain long-term crypto exposure while benefiting from the oversight and transparency of a regulated market,” she said.
The contracts will be settled in cash and cleared centrally through Cboe Clear US, a CFTC-regulated clearing house. This reduces counterparty risk and makes it safer for traders compared to unregulated or offshore derivatives.
Margin requirements are subject to CFTC regulations, and there may be opportunities to offset margin requirements with other CFE-listed futures, such as Financial Settlement Bitcoin (FBT) and Financial Settlement Ether (FET) contracts.
In short, Cboe’s continuous futures bring the convenience of perpetual-style cryptocurrency exposure to a regulated U.S. market. Traders can now hold Bitcoin and Ether positions long-term without the need for regular contract rollovers, while benefiting from transparency, central clearing, and regulatory oversight.
Discover more from Earlybirds Invest
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
