Yesterday, Business Insider cited an unnamed source who claims that the CBOE is planning to launch futures for ether. If this is true, it could mean a lot for Ethereum.
The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) has begun setting the stage for their Ethereum futures product. The CBOE plans to go live with their ether futures market by the end of 2018. The exchange would use price data from the Winklevoss Twins Gemini Exchange, which also provides the CBOE with the price data for the current Bitcoin price.
This move comes after the SEC deemed Ethereum to not be a security in June. Futures markets help bring legitimacy to an asset class, but also introduce a two-sided market. Ethereum listed on the CBOE’s Exchange can be longed or shorted if the listing is approved. Unfortunately, many people attribute the fall of Bitcoin from all-time highs to the futures market of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin set an all-time high on November 1st, 2017 when the CME Futures were announced. This was followed by a 208% increase as investors speculated about the release that would come on December 17th, 2018. It was on this day that Bitcoin set its new all-time high price of around $20,000. Quickly following this was Bitcoin’s huge fall off of its all-time high and the beginning of the legendary altcoin run of late December – early January.
It is reasonable to assume that speculation of Ether will increase in the time leading up to the futures decision, but do not expect to see 208% gains from the current price point. Ether has many other problems it is dealing with including the genesis block whale potentially selling and the constant negative sell pressure as ICO’s liquidate to stay operational.