CME officially launches Bitcoin futures trading

The waiting is over, with Bitcoin futures now officially trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

The Bitcoin Reference Rate (BRR) trades at $19,448.28, an index formed via several bitcoin exchanges and trading platforms, including Bitstamp, GDAX, itBit and Kraken.

Patrick Thompson, writing for CoinTelegraph, notes: "The first CBOE contracts will expire on Jan. 17, 2018, and the first CME Group contracts will expire on Jan. 26, 2018. Because Bitcoin futures trading has never occurred before, this unprecedented event could have a significant impact on the Bitcoin economy."

The initial price action seen in Bitcoin across the board indicates shorts have got an early upper hand, as price attempts to break sub $19k in some of the centralized exchanges such as Bittrex. There are concerns that we might be in the midst of a buy the rumor sell the fact type of event, by which the market has been incentivized to bid up the prices of Bitcoin in anticipation of the BTC futures listing in both the CBOE and CME, only to sell-off when the actual event if confirmed.