Press Release Today TheBitTimes.com

CME Group announced plans to launch ether and bitcoin ratio futures on July 31, so long as they get regulatory approval .  “Historically, ether and bitcoin have been highly correlated; however, as the two assets have grown over time, market dynamics may affect the performance of one more than the other, creating relative value trading opportunities,” said Giovanni Vicioso, CME Group’s global head of cryptocurrency products, said in a press release. The futures will be cash-settled to the final settlement price of the CME’s ether futures and divided by the final settlement price of its bitcoin futures.  The listing cycle will be the same as CME’s bitcoin and ether futures contracts.  According to Vicioso, this means that “investors will be able to capture ether and bitcoin exposure in a single trade, without needing to take a directional view.”  XBTO’s Paul Eisma, head of options, said that “the launch of ether/bitcoin ratio futures completes the currency triangle allowing...

Ether’s market performance and derivatives metrics have lagged behind Bitcoin, possibly due to traders’ expectation of heavy sell pressure after the Shapella upgrade. The Ethereum network’s Shapella upgrade, scheduled for around 6:30 pm EST on April 12, has induced significant uncertainty among traders, according to a report by Kaiko.  The upgrade will enable staked-ETH withdrawals from the Beacon Chain for the first time since its launch in December 2020. According to previous estimates, the upgrade will add nearly 1.2 million to 3 million worth of ETH selling pressure in the first few weeks. This is one of the main reasons traders appear to be taking a cautious stance ahead of the upgrade. Kaiko’s report shows that ETH is lagging behind BTC in spot and Futures trading volumes, while options market data shows traders are actively adding short-term hedging positions. Ether displays muted trading data Ethereum market share in USD trading volume compared to Bitcoin declined to Marc...