Update: At 10:05pm ET, the CFE halted trading in Cboe Bitcoin Futures (XBT), in accordance with CFE Rule 1302(i)(ii) which defines the threshold for the halt as a 20% surge. XBT will re-open for trading approximately five (5)minutes from the time of the halt.
Bitcoin Futures have topped $18,000 for the first time…
It was reopened at 10:10pm ET.
All of which is odd because Bob Pisani and the rest of the mainstream said that the opening of Bitcoin Futures would bring about the demise of the cryptocurrency due to the ability to short?
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Update: At precisely 8:31pm ET, the CBOE instituted the first ever XBT trading halt, which lasted for two minutes according to a notice on Cboe’s website. XBT contracts have since resumed trading. As a reminder, the Cboe can halt trading for 2 minutes after 10% swings, and 5 minutes at 20%, an attempt to prevent wild swings.
Notably earlier in the evenig they exercised discretion and decided nto to halt the XBT trading as the first opening spike occurred…
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The CBOE’s website crashed within minutes of the CBOE open on Sunday – which also marked the launch of the first bitcoin futures to trade on a major exchange…
… while the price of a bitcoin spiked 10% in five minutes as the new contract with the ticker XBT fluctuated wildly.
The embarrassing crash happened as the entire financial world was closely watching the first historic institutionalization of bitcoin:
Shortly after the initial snafu, the CBOE tweeted that “visitors to cboe.com may find site is performing slower than usual and may at times be temporarily unavailable” due to heavy traffic adding that “all trading systems are operating normally.”
“Given the unprecedented interest in Bitcoin, it’s vital we provide clients the trading tools to help them express their views and hedge their exposure,” said Ed Tilly, chairman and CEO of CBOE Global Markets, in a statement earlier this month. Trading in Bitcoin futures will be free through the end of December.
Despite the surging interest in what was taking place on the CBOE, a little over an hour after the launch, some 555 XBT jan 2018 futures contracts had traded – equivalent of roughly $9 million notional…
Source/More: Bitcoin Futures Top $18,000, Soar 20% From Open – Halted for Second Time | Zero Hedge
