BitMEX, a leading crypto futures exchange, announced its new ETH/USD futures contracts which will be up for trading from May 5.
Though the new derivatives contract will allow traders to bet on ETH prices against USD, the settlement will be done in Bitcoin .
“ETHUSD quanto futures have a fixed Bitcoin multiplier regardless of the USD Ethereum price,” the official announcement stated. This allows traders to long or short the ETH/USD exchange rate without ever touching either ETH or USD! Traders post margin in XBT, and earn or lose Bitcoin as the ETH/USD rate changes.”
The contracts will have a Bitcoin multiplier of 0.000001 XBT, meaning for every $1 move in the ETH prices, the trader will receive 0.000001 bitcoin regardless of the USD price of ETH.
The new futures contract will offer Leverage up to 50x to the traders and will expire quarterly. The first ETHUSD contract (ETHUSD20) will expire in June.
“This contract combines the quanto feature of our ETHUSD perpetual swap with the expiry and settlement found in traditional futures. As with every BitMEX altcoin future, it expires quarterly,” the exchange noted.
Earlier this year, BitMEX also expanded its offering by introducing XRP perpetual contracts.
Raising demand for derivatives
BitMEX is one of the biggest derivatives exchanges, handling billions in trades every day. However, it recently lost its apex market position to Binance’s months-old futures platform.
Notably, the Seychelles-registered exchange saw a record liquidation since the recent crypto market dip which echoed the Coronavirus plunge of the stock market.
Meanwhile, BitMEX is one of the few major exchanges which is recently named in 11 class action lawsuits filed at a New York court.
