Coinbase Derivatives to Launch Institutional Bitcoin and Ethereum Futures

Coinbase Derivatives Exchange will offer its institutional clients “institutional-sized” Bitcoin and Ethereum tracked futures starting next week, the company announced Thursday. 

The derivatives arm of America’s biggest crypto exchange said that the BTI and ETI futures contracts are sized at 1 BTC and 10 ETH per contract. Derivatives are financial contracts which depend on the underlying value of a particular asset. In the world of crypto, the derivatives market sees traders buy contracts on the future price of digital assets. 

Investors have been able to snap up “micro-sized” futures for some time now after the price of Bitcoin rocketed. Coinbase started offering these small contracts last year. 

But the new futures contracts will be for institutional investors—so will be much larger. 

They will be settled in U.S. dollars monthly and institutional traders will be able to hedge market bets, express long-term market views, or utilize the products in complex trading strategies, Coinbase added. 

“Introducing institutional-sized contracts marks another milestone in our ongoing mission to provide accessible and cutting-edge financial instruments to market participants and underscores our dedication to solutions tailored to the needs of institutional clients,” the announcement read. 

It added that the futures contracts would “come with significantly lower fees than traditional offerings.”

The derivatives market in the crypto world is bigger than the spot market: according to CoinGecko, the total derivatives 24-hour volume currently stands at $139 billion, versus $36.2 billion for spot trading on centralized exchanges. 

San Francisco-based Coinbase last year acquired CFTC-regulated derivatives exchange FairX and rebranded it as Coinbase Derivatives Exchange. 

Last month, Coinbase announced the launch of its subscription service, Coinbase One, where customers can pay a monthly bill in order to get trading fees slashed.