OKCoin offers Bitcoin futures contracts

OKCoin, leading Chinese exchange will be launching Bitcoin futures contracts trading on its platform, as Coindesk reports.

Having an option to trade futures contracts based on the digital currency is an important step in the road to acceptance by institutional investors for Bitcoin. Futures contracts enable traders to hedge the risks of holding an asset, something very useful to Bitcoin investors considering the volatility of the currency, and at the same time create greater trading volumes that can reduce the inherent volatility for the entire market.

Speculators might also use the new futures contracts trading, but considering the options for leveraged margin trading and the great volatility Bitcoin already offers compared with other assets such as stocks, or gold that does not seem necessary.

Star Xu, the founder and CEO of OKCoin reportedly said: “Today’s launch of bitcoin futures trading capabilities builds on the algorithmic trading tools we pioneered and launched on our platform last month. We have already seen a favorable response from institutional and individual investors. We are helping to make participation in bitcoin a more safe and stable process. The ability to trade futures will further cement our position as one of the world’s leading bitcoin exchanges.”

OKCoin’s futures contracts trading will be offered in beta mode for the next two weeks and will be officially available afterwards.

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