FILE PHOTO: A representation of virtual currency Bitcoin is seen in front of a stock graph in this illustration taken January 8, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Exchange operator CME Group Inc said on Tuesday more than 100,000 micro bitcoin futures were traded in the first six days after the contract's launch.
The micro contract is aimed at smaller, sophisticated, active traders, and represents 1/10th of a bitcoin, versus the more pricey regular contract, which represents 5 bitcoins.
"Together with our existing, full-sized Bitcoin futures, this new, smaller contract further strengthens our ability to help a broad array of clients, from institutions to sophisticated, active traders, to manage their bitcoin price risk," said Tim McCourt, CME's Global Head of Equity Index and Alternative Investment Products.
Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, was trading slightly above $55,000 early on Tuesday, well off its all-time high of nearly $65,000 hit on April 14.
(Reporting by John McCrank; Editing by Catherine Evans and Nick Zieminski)
