The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME Group) has announced that it will launch options based on existing bitcoin futures in the first quarter of 2020.

Get ready for options on #Bitcoin futures, launching in Q1 2020 from CME Group. Find out more: https://t.co/rdo6RbsetE pic.twitter.com/YLhIZo2h6v

– CMEGroup (@CMEGroup) September 20, 2019

“Based on the growing customer demand and the steady growth of our bitcoin futures markets, we believe that the launch of options will provide our customers with additional flexibility in trading and hedging price risk ,” said Tim McCourt, Managing Director of CME Group.

The new product will help traders manage risks in the cryptocurrency spot market, as well as hedge positions in BTC futures, he added.

In the media, reports about the possible appearance of CME Group options for bitcoin appeared earlier this month. Like the proposed futures, bitcoin options will be calculated in fiat, and not in cryptocurrency.

The first cryptocurrency futures contracts CME Group launched in December 2017. In July, the exchange recorded a record daily trading volume of 12,878 contracts. Earlier it became known that the exchange is exploring the possibility of launching futures products on the second Ethereum cryptocurrency by capitalization.

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