In the midst of significant price volatility and a substantial leverage flush out in the crypto market, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has surpassed Binance to become the leading Bitcoin futures exchange. On Thursday, CME reported an open interest (OI) of about $4.07 billion, representing a 4% rise in 24 hours and capturing a 24.7% market share.
This shift occurred concurrently with a significant drop in aggregate Bitcoin open interest, which fell by $2 billion from $12 billion. This downturn impacted Binance traders more heavily than those on CME, with Binance's OI dropping to $3.8 billion, a 7.8% decrease within the same period.
Coinciding with these shifts, Bitcoin's price experienced dramatic fluctuations, soaring to an 18-month peak of nearly $38,000 but subsequently falling back to $36,000. These price movements followed the registration of "iShares Ethereum Trust" in Delaware, reflecting a similar pattern observed when BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) applied for a spot BTC exchange-traded fund (ETF) earlier in June.
Throughout 2023, CME's steady growth has been indicative of the escalating institutional demand for Bitcoin futures trading. A study conducted by Bitwise Asset Management in 2020 confirmed that CME's Bitcoin futures consistently outperform the spot market.
Industry experts have attributed this recent surge in CME's market share to increasing anticipation around BTC spot ETF applications. FalconX emphasized that CME's predominant usage by large traditional financial institutions signals their growing interest in cryptocurrency. Deutsche Digital Assets also noted that this growth is partly due to the unwinding of bearish positions on offshore exchanges.
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