Bitcoin bears are being unleashed onto the cryptocurrency's futures market

Frank Chaparro

Dec 13, 2017, 07:56 IST

Bitcoin bears are being unleashed onto the cryptocurrency's futures market

David Ryder/Getty Images

Interactive Brokers is now letting its users go short on bitcoin in the newly launched futures market.
It'll give investors a vehicle by which they can bet against the future price of the coin, which is up more than 1,600% this year.

One of the largest brokerages is letting its clients short bitcoin, giving folks bearish on the coin a way to bet against it.

According to reporting by Bloomberg News, Interactive Brokers will let clients take short positions in the Cboe Global Markets' bitcoin futures market, which launched Sunday.

A spokeswoman for the firm told Bloomberg the move was "in response to client demand."

The company has allowed users to invest in the new market via long positions, requiring a larger down payment for trades than the standard required by Cboe. It is one of the largest players in the market, so far.

"Interactive Brokers has a few requirements for shorting bitcoin futures: the spread must be one-to-one, and the short leg must have the earlier expiry date so that once it expires the surviving leg will be long," Bloomberg reported.

Prior to the launch of futures, the firm's chairman asked the CFTC to prevent exchanges from launching such a market.

Big Wall Street banks have been more cautious, showing no indication of entering the market in the short term. JPMorgan and Citigroup, two of the largest futures brokers, are not clearing trades for its clients.

A person familiar with JPMorgan's operations told Business Insider the firm didn't want to be in the market on day one, citing concerns about liquidity and too much risk being placed on clearing houses if the bitcoin market blows up. When there's enough volumes, the bank might consider dipping its toes into the market.

Cryptocurrency hype has reached peak levels, with coins across the market hitting new highs on a daily basis and cryptocurrency exchanges under pressure to meet spiking demand from more and more users. Bitcoin broke through $17,500 on Tuesday and the entire market for digital coins was close to $500 billion.