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What killed the price was the lack of buyers showing up in auctions.
Maybe Options took the form of promissory notes back in the 1600s, but definitely not the form it takes today as a mathematical priced financial tool.
Matt Z
Optimus Futures
There is a substantial risk of loss in futures trading. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Trading futures and options involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. You may lose more than your initial investment. All posts are opinions and do not claim to be facts. Please conduct your own due diligence. Use only Risk capital when trading Futures.
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I am using that point to troll the topic some. Of course there is little relation to the
options strategies we can do today.
Taleb:
"Bitcoin: my answer to the repeated questions.
No, there is NO way to properly short the bitcoin "bubble".
Any strategy that doesn't entail options is nonergodic (subjected to blowup)."
"Persistence is very important. You should not give up unless you are forced to give up." -- Elon Musk
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I believe official margin rates for outrights is 37% of notional, so with Bitcoin at $17,000 margin on the 5 coin CME future is 17000*5*.37 = $31,450. This represents leverage of just 2.7:1 versus approximately 8.5:1 in CL and 15:1 in ES. Additionally as you state many brokers have margin premiums in excess of that. I clear my Bitcoin with ED&F who margin at the exchange margin rate. Others you might try are Phillips, FC Stone, Wedbush.
ICE also have a contract that is smaller at 1 coin per contract. Margin rate is the same at 37% but obviously since the contract is 20% of the size, the margin requirement is also 20% the amount. ($6,290 per contract) Finding brokers to clear this is even more difficult but the 4 mentioned above all do.
As a US resident many of the major exchanges are not legally open to you. I believe Coinbase is the largest US based exchange. They require 100% margin on all positions, do not allow short selling, and unless you qualify for a pro account I believe their fees make futures trading look very cheap. There are other options out there and which is best for you may be a function of what you want to do. When evaluating brokers I would make sure you consider
Fees to deposit money (yes these can be quiet high)
Fees to trade
Fees to withdraw Bitcoins from your account to your own Wallet (these can be high as well)
I would also consider your credit risk. The 5 coin size of the CME is very large, but I personally am happier with the CME credit risk than I would be with many (all?) other exchanges. Additionally since the CME contract is financially settled they don't have any actual coins in storage that can be hacked/stolen etc. ICE's contract is a physically delivered contract but they have a custodian solution 'Bakkt' (which is free) with partners Microsoft & StarBucks. I believe they (Bakkt) also have $100 Million of insurance.