Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.

Compensation was paid to utilize rankings. Click here to read full disclosure.

Are Futures a Good or Bad Evolution for Bitcoin?

By

Image used under license from Shutterstock.com

Bitcoin futures began trading on Sunday. In a maniacal market like the one for bitcoin has become, no one is sure what to expect. On the first day, the contract’s trading became so volatile that its trading was halted twice. Web traffic was so heavy that the CBOE website was slow or unavailable at times. While many are cheering the potential of these futures contracts, others are worried about threats to bitcoin and the cryptocurrency’s market stability. Alexander Osipovich and Gabriel T. Rubin report:

Life Comes at You Fast. Slow It Down with My Friday Email. It’s Free.

The launch of the bitcoin futures represents a milestone for the digital currency. But the new market could be roiled by hacks, technical snafus or manipulation schemes.

One risk, critics say, is that the underlying markets for bitcoin are largely unregulated and have a troubled history. Mt. Gox, once the largest bitcoin exchange, collapsed in 2014 after being robbed of more than $470 million of bitcoin. Other bitcoin exchanges have faced criminal charges of money laundering.

“The Bitcoin cash markets are immature and hardly seem the epitome of robustness,” Craig Pirrong, a finance professor at the University of Houston, wrote in a blog post.

Bitcoin has been the best-performing asset in financial markets in 2017. The launch of bitcoin futures comes as a confluence of economic, financial and cultural developments has spurred a rise of more than 1,500% this year in the price of the digital currency.

But the futures’ launch has cast a spotlight on the market’s shaky foundations. Bitcoin exchanges were plagued with glitches in recent weeks, even as the price of the virtual currency soared to records—passing $17,000 on Thursday, from just $968.23 at the start of the year, according to CoinDesk.

For their futures products, Cboe and CME are betting that a handful of bitcoin exchanges are sufficiently reliable and trustworthy to support a derivatives market.

Still, recent mishaps have raised questions about whether bitcoin exchanges are ready for prime time. On Nov. 29, heavy trading sparked by bitcoin breaking through $10,000 the previous evening caused outages at Bitstamp and GDAX, among other exchanges.

All five bitcoin exchanges working with Cboe or CME have taken steps to embrace regulation and anti-money-laundering laws. Their representatives said the industry had matured. “Exchanges that weren’t up to a certain standard, due to incompetence, have died out,” said Bitstamp Chief Executive Nejc Kodrič.

Some critics warn that unscrupulous traders could push around the price of bitcoin on the bitcoin exchanges, manipulating prices in the underlying market to reap profits from the futures.

Read more here.

Coinbase CEO on Crypto Surge, Bitcoin Futures, IRS

The following two tabs change content below.
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy Instagram profile

E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West (RIP JB) and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.
My Twitter profileMy Facebook profileMy Instagram profile

Latest posts by E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy (see all)

Recent Posts from YourSurvivalGuy.com

Digital Dollars: A Warning Where You’re the Prey

In my conversations with you, you voice your concerns about the digitization of the dollar. Clearly, there are publications out there warning the sky is falling. It’s unsettling at best. Then, over the holidays with your family and friends, you bring up the subject, and the person you’re talking with doesn’t have a clue. Life […]

You Can See Where Big Government Is Headed

Read Your Survival Guy’s Digital Dollars: A Warning Where You’re the Prey, and you can see where big government and big states are headed. That’s why I want you to look for your peace of mind in a Super State. You’ve read lately about the Supreme Court case Moore vs. U.S. in a couple of posts […]

You Can’t Escape a Digital Dollar

You don’t need to dig too hard to see how big states want to keep you locked in. That’s why Your Survival Guy wants you to find your Super State. The digital dollar is their collar. In a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, James Freeman highlights Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s calls to make New York even […]

Don’t Make Moves You Might Regret

The pressures of the holidays are building. Don’t let this infiltrate your investments by making moves you may regret. Don’t buy mutual funds right before a distribution you may owe taxes on next year. But do consider making moves where you might benefit from spreading tax obligations over several years. Life Comes at You Fast. […]

Listen to What They Say about YOUR Money

You recently read about how the Supreme Court could stop a wealth tax before it even starts. That’s scaring some politicians because they already consider that wealth to be theirs. Just look at this headline from USA Today: “This couple is fighting $15,000 in taxes. Their case could cost Washington trillions.” Cost Washington trillions? The […]

Is It Almost Riot Season Again in America?

In City Journal, Christopher Rufo wonders if radical left-wing activists are preparing to incite riots in 2024 the same way they did in 2020 in order to shift the narratives of the presidential campaign. He writes: The resurgence of public protests in support of Hamas has revealed a disturbing truth: the left-wing rioting following George […]

Your Key to Retirement Wealth

When you look at your lifetime of earnings, you realize your key to retirement wealth is keeping what you’ve made. Too many investors are separated from their money by looking for markets to make their dreams come true. The arithmetic of portfolio losses makes it difficult to rebuild the wealth you earned the hard way […]

HARDSHIP WITHDRAWAL: Do You Have Emergency Funds?

According to a new study by Fidelity, Americans are increasingly turning to their 401(k)s to withdraw money in what are known as hardship withdrawals. As explained by Fidelity “Hardship withdrawals are only available to workers experiencing an “immediate and heavy” financial need as defined by the IRS. They are only allowed to withdraw funds to […]

EVERGRANDE: The World’s Most Indebted Property Developer

You have read about how investors in Evergrande, the world’s most indebted property developer, are “counting on the commies” for help as the company is restructured or potentially liquidated. A long-delayed liquidation hearing was scheduled for Monday, but it was once again delayed. Leaving creditors with little understanding of what they can expect from Evergrande […]

Risk and Reward: An Efficient Frontier

Originally posted July 26, 2018. The Efficient Frontier, created by Harry Markowitz in 1952, measures the efficient diversification of investments that delivers the highest level of return at the lowest possible risk. Investors must consider the trade-offs between risk and reward in their portfolios. You can see on the chart below an efficient frontier line […]

Stop America’s Zombie Apocalypse before It Starts

Your Survival Guy has unfortunately experienced the discomfort and uncertainty of a prolonged natural gas outage. When gas service went out in much of Newport, RI, back in 2019, it took days to recover, and many people in town faced significant hardship. Your Survival Guy and Gal did just fine, but it was a real-time […]

Small Government Just Works

You have read a lot on Your Survival Guy about how states that treat residents like customers rather than like piggy banks to withdraw funds from are winning. Your Survival Guy’s 2023 Super States features a group of states that put residents ahead of politicians’ personal agendas by focusing on lower taxes, and smaller government. […]

Locking In a Generational Opportunity in Fixed Income

UPDATE 11.30.23: Have you added fixed income to your portfolio yet? After over a decade of loose monetary policy, some investors have forgotten about the benefits of fixed income in their portfolios. Some younger investors have come into adulthood having never experienced bond yields worth sinking their teeth into. Now they can. Don’t miss a […]

RIP Charlie Munger: Keeping It Simple Never Goes out of Style

You may have read that Charlie Munger, the vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, has passed away. Munger was a legend in the world of investing, and was known, as Jason Zweig of The Wall Street Journal explains, “for his straightforward advice to business leaders.” Zweig writes: Business and financial leaders made frequent pilgrimages to Los […]