POkial som pochopil tak v súvislosti s tými futures tip na short CBOE a CME cez opcie a info, že okrem futures bude i bitcoinové ETF. Jedno už máme niekde na OTC, nie?
Bitcoin Futures: Risky Business for Cboe, CME
Last Monday, as Bitcoin traded above $8,000 for the first time, shares of Cboe Global Markets and CME Group set 52-week highs. The rallies probably reflected expectations that the launch of Bitcoin futures will prove lucrative for the exchanges.
It is unknown how much the exchanges will charge to trade the contracts, or if the Commodity Futures Trading Commission will approve Bitcoin futures, but that has not stopped Cboe (ticker: CBOE) and CME (CME) from announcing their intentions. Bitcoin, after all, is the world’s most volatile trading product, which is what many investors crave, and exchanges need to make more money.
Volatility creates opportunities for investors to wager on or hedge price moves, and it drives trading volumes that fuel exchange profits.
CME and Cboe have not yet announced trading fees, but they should be higher than other derivatives. Bitcoin futures traders are probably insensitive to transaction fees because the volatility in the underlying cryptocurrency is so beguiling at a time when the stock market rarely moves more than 1% a day. So far this year, Bitcoin is up some 1,000%.
We have recommended Cboe’s stock since its 2010 initial public offering, when shares traded at $29. The decision to pursue Bitcoin futures, however, concerns us. Cboe seems to be making, probably for the first time, a decision that may not be in the best interest of the derivatives market. Thomas Peterffy, one of the world’s top derivatives traders, has warned that Bitcoin futures will destabilize clearing firms that manage market risk, and shutter some trading firms.
Hence, we cannot recommend Cboe with our usual enthusiasm. Even as analysts expressed cautious views on the stock, we advised investors to ignore them. We correctly asserted that Cboe was a disciplined company that offered a way to profit from worldwide investor fascination with VIX’s low level, even though the world’s affairs were chaotic. We repeatedly recommended buying the stock, selling puts to buy more stock, and purchasing calls to profit from the stock’s advance. But Cboe’s pursuit of Bitcoin futures seems out of character, and we are shifting our stance.
We want to take profits on our September recommendation to sell Cboe’s December $105 put for $3, and to buy the December $110 call for $1.95, when the stock was at $106. The put is basically worthless, and the call is worth about $9.
WE UNDERSTAND why Cboe wants Bitcoin futures. If VIX options are like Cboe’s Standard & Poor’s 500 options on steroids, Bitcoin futures could be like VIX options on crack cocaine, and thus incredibly lucrative. Futures are also the building blocks of market ecosystems. They enable dealers to hedge risk, which makes it possible for exchanges to create markets in options and equities.
Cboe wants to list a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who are seeking regulatory approval to list a Bitcoin ETF, are speaking to investors at Cboe’s Risk Management Conference in early December in Hong Kong.
But until it is known if Bitcoin futures will be segregated at clearing firms to protect the stability of the markets, as suggested by Peterffy, Interactive Brokers Group’s (IBKR) founder and chairman, we’re uncomfortable recommending Cboe as anything but a momentum trade like Bitcoin itself. The same applies to CME.
Aggressive investors can buy Cboe’s March $120 call for $4.50 with the stock just under $119. The expiration covers earnings, expected on Feb. 9, at which point we may learn about Bitcoin futures, which, if Peterffy is correct, may prove Warren Buffett’s quip that derivatives are weapons of mass destruction.
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