By The launch of Chicago Mercantile Groups highly anticipated Ether futures saw more than 30 million worth of contracts traded during the first day of trade. Launched on Feb. 8, CMEs new Ether product saw 388 contracts traded in its first day, with 303 of the contracts being mobilized to speculate on Februarys price. While 84 contracts expiring in March were also traded, only a single April contract changed hands.
Each of CMEs contracts represents 50 Ether, with the exchange setting the minimum trade value at five contracts worth more than 450,000 at current prices. CMEs ETH futures last traded for 1,826.5, a 1.5 price premium over the spot markets. With the majority of contracts traded set to expire in February, traders appear to be speculating that Ether will close the month near its current price levels.
The days leading up to the launch saw significant bullish momentum for Ethereum, with price rallying into new alltime highs above 1,500 and social engagement at unprecedented levels.
According to Blockchain Centers Flippening Index, which seeks to measure Ethereums strength relative to Bitcoin by eight key metrics, Ethereum has already overtaken Bitcoin by half of its indicators transaction count, node count, transaction volume, and total transaction fees.
The index ranked Ethereums Google search interest and market cap at roughly onequarter of Bitcoins, while Ether active addresses are at 53 and trade volume is at 74. All told the Flippening Index is currently…
