On Thursday, Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange OKEx revealed the addition of seven new trading pairs to its cryptocurrency derivative product. The exchange currently stands as the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, with a 24-hour trading volume of $552 million at the time of writing.
OKEx originally launched its first derivative product, a no-expiry Bitcoin derivative known as a “perpetual swap.” With the original perpetual swap product, traders were granted the ability to trade to take long or short positions on the value applied between OKEx’s BTC to USD Index, with up to 100x Leverage . Each of the derivatives contracts has a nominal value of $100.
ETC、LTC perpetual swap trading is now available.https://t.co/b1Lvh7OOrL pic.twitter.com/aOy6MQPHt2
— OKEx (@OKEx) January 2, 2019
Now, users will be able to trade perpetual swaps contracts for Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Bitcoin SV (BSV), EOS (EOS), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), and Ripple (XRP). However, these contracts will only support 40x leverage.
Crypto Derivatives Market Charges Forward
In spite of the bear market that has plagued the cryptocurrency industry for months, cryptocurrency derivatives products are continually being launched by a number of high-profile firms. On December 31, 2018, the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) announced that the launch timeline for the Bakkt Bitcoin USD Daily Futures would be set in the near future. The announcement coincided with news that Bakkt had completed a funding round that brought in $182.5 million.
Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Huobi also launched the Huobi Derivatives Market in late November. The platform allows its users to trade Bitcoin and Ethereum contracts that allow for hedging, arbitrage, and speculation. Just last week, the daily traded volume of crypto derivatives contracts on the exchange broke past $1 billion; EOS contracts were added to the platform on December 28th.
Huobi Derivative Market Beta is LIVE! To Celebrate this Big Launch：
Start Trading and Take THREE Surprises Home!https://t.co/QFv2DSdmn9 Begin a New Era of Digital Asset Derivative Trading. pic.twitter.com/w4izGEB4Sz — Huobi Global (@HuobiGlobal) November 21, 2018
