Cryptocurrency futures are contracts between two investors who bet on the future price of a cryptocurrency. They offer investors the opportunity to receive exposure to certain cryptocurrencies without having to purchase them.
Crypto futures contracts are similar to traditional futures contracts for commodities or stocks in that they enable you to bet on the price movement of an underlying asset.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange and cryptocurrency exchanges trade cryptocurrency futures. The first Bitcoin futures contracts were offered on the Cboe in early December 2017, but they were quickly removed.
In December 2017, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) also launched Bitcoin futures contracts. The contracts are settled in cash and traded on the Globex electronic trading platform. The CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate and the CME CF Ether Reference Rate serve as the foundation for Bitcoin and Ether futures contracts.
