The world of futures trading in Bitcoin for the traditional investor is still very new, as it only opened in December of last year when CBOE[1] and CME[2] launched their products to the market in what was expected to be a big boost for Bitcoin adoption.
However, for those already involved in cryptocurrencies, there have been opportunities to trade Bitcoin futures — along with other cryptocurrency futures — since before the big CME and CBOE launch dates. In fact, OKEx announced its BTC, BCH and ETH futures trading on November 3, 2017[3].
But, even with this jump on the futures market, and being the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange[4] by volume, OKEx has had its issues with futures trading thus far. First, there was abnormal pricing on March 30[5] which they had to deal with, bringing with it a threat from a trader that they would attempt suicide if the issue was not resolved.
Then, in May, OKEx had to deal with China National Radio’s (CNR) “Voice of China” program that alleged that OKEx was illegally trading cryptocurrency futures[6] in the country, which has essentially banned all usage[7] of digital currencies within its border.
Now, on August 3, OKEx was faced with a sticky situation in which a ‘Whale’[8] trader’s wrong-way bet on Bitcoin forced a liquidation of a futures contract, forcing other traders to foot the bill[9]. The latest issue means that those with unrealized gains on their short positions this week are set to lose 18 percent[10] of their profits.
Speaking to Cointelegraph, OKEx head of operations, Andy Cheung, said
