Bitcoin Bulls Can Now Bet On $100,000 Price via Call Options

Bitcoin bulls have resurged this year, bringing the value of the coin almost 3x since the beginning of the year. A few small hiccups here and there have affected the value of Bitcoin but not enough to bring it down significantly. Now, Bulls are betting that coin will go up to $100,000 soon.

LedgerX capitalizes on the opportunity

US regulated derivative exchange LedgerX is leveraging the enthusiasm around Bitcoin’s price rise. The exchange recently revealed a call option that pays off investors if Bitcoin price crosses $100,000 by December 2020, that’s roughly 18 months from now. This move signifies a 10x increase in the coin’s price (hovering around $10,000). If this event takes place, Bitcoin’s market cap would cross $2 trillion and start rivaling assets like gold.

LedgerX got approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to start offering derivatives contracts to small retail investors in June. This is the first product they are launching since then. The company has already been offering similar Bitcoin derivatives products to its institutional clients for two years.

It needs to be seen how traders would react to a product with an ambitious target like $100,000. Moreover, Bitcoin has lost 25% of its value since tripling price from the beginning of the year. There is increasing regulatory pressure on the digital currency space, and even the US president has expressed his discomfort and concerns about the cryptocurrency industry.

What does the market suggest?

LedgerX’s Chief Executive Officer Paul Chou said that the first trade is the most important as everyone else is watching it. He noted that several of the company’s institutional investors had shown interest in this new derivative. All these clients have assets between $10 million and $1 billion.

“I understand $100,000 is a large number, but a lot of us who’ve been in this space remember Bitcoin at $1, and then it hit $10 and $100 and $10,000. A $100,000 contract doesn’t even make us blink,” he noted while talking to Bloomberg.

Institutional traders are driving up the volumes on both BitMEX and CME Group, which offer Bitcoin derivatives products, as reported by research firm Diar. Intercontinental Exchange will also dabble in the crypto waters as it starts testing Bitcoin futures on July 22. Interestingly, Cboe Global Inc. has stopped offering its Bitcoin futures products after trading for 18 months. This would mark interesting times for crypto traders as institutional investors throw their weight behind the industry.