Bitcoin trades began Sunday at 6:00 PM EST on the CBOE Global Markets Inc. Futures Exchange. Some argue this milestone is what drove the price on a wide ride last week. According to CoinBase, Bitcoin traded from $11,147 to a high of $17,638 and as of this writing $16,849 per coin. Fans of the tremendious volitility are exccited they can play the BTC market without having to go through the process of setting up a BitCoin wallet. Non fans are cautioning things can go terribly wrong.
The BTC futures are a cash-settled instrument, with margins, set by the trading platform, as high as 50% of the underlying. Traders will have to put up 7,000 – 8,000 dollars just to trade one bitcoin. With this introduction, Volatility in the price of Bitcoin should reduce, but I would give it a month before seeing any improvement. Charles Schwab’s Vice President of trading and derivatives, Randy Fredrick, “This is completely unknown territory,”
Maybe:
Be careful.
Josh Brown has done a good job explaining how to execute trades and what to wathc for in this brief and informative video.
What to Watch for this Week
A typical news week towards the end of the year. Is the Santa Claus rally going to happen? The Tax Bill, FOMC meeting, Bitcoin Futures, and the Alabama Senate Election can all cause volatility in this market. Will it be the big one? I doubt it, but many will be asking are we going up from here.
- Tax Cuts – More compromises and the bill will get signed into law.
- Bitcoin – If you are planning to trade, make sure your size is appropriate to your circumstances. Treat it like a trade, not an investment.
- The Fed – I predict we will see a rate hike this week. I do not see this affecting the market that much.
- The GOP will get the tax cut through with or without Judge Moore.
The market will see a year-end rally. However, the currents are much different this year than years past. Make sure you are looking at sector strength and potential, not the overall market for guidence.
Economic Calendar
Here is a list of the U.S. economic events happenning this week.
Last Weeks Numbers
Review Last weeks numbers here.
