In spite of the bearish trends that have plagued the markets over the past two weeks, Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange BitMex has traded more than 1 million BTC contracts in a single day for the second time in a month. A total of 1,027,214.62 Bitcoin contracts (worth roughly $6.6 billion) were traded on Wednesday, August 8, 2018.
A new BitMEX (and industry) record: 1,000,000 XBT (> $8BN) traded in the last 24 hours!
— BitMEX (@BitMEXdotcom) July 25, 2018
BitMex CEO Arthur Hayes attributed the massive uptick in trading on the platform to the launch of two new derivatives trading products. The first is an ETH/USD perpetual swap product that allows BitMex traders to place bets on Ether and USD without ever actually holding either.
“Once again meeting our own record of 1 million bitcoin traded within 24 hours is a major milestone for the crypto-coin market and testament to the strong community BitMEX is growing,” Hayes said in an official company announcement.
BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes.
BitMex CEO Cites Derivatives Products as the Reason for High Trading Volume
The other is UPs and DOWNs, BitMex’s first ever call and put options.
“The ETHUSD perpetual swap and UPs and Downs represent new and exciting territory for BitMEX and an unprecedented opportunity for the crypto community to experiment with more sophisticated financial instruments on an easy-to-use and highly secure trading application,” Hayes said in an official statement.
BitMex to Offer a “Wealth” of Derivatives Products
BitMex explained that the decision to launch ETH/USD perpetual swaps came as a result of the success of its previously launched XBT/USD swap product. The exchange also claims that its XBT/USD markets are the most liquid on the planet.
Hayes sees a future for BitMex in the business of “...offering a wealth of derivative products designed for the crypto-coin industry.” CrowdFundInsider noted in a report that derivative products are becoming “ubiquitous” within the crypto space.
“Why not? Derivatives can help with Liquidity as well as help to manage risk. It’s not always about trading and speculation,” the report asked.
