Bitfinex Derivatives, a platform provided by iFinex Financial Technologies accessible through Bitfinex crypto and digital asset exchange, has gone live with trading perpertual swaps representing the ‘Europe 50’ and ‘Germany 30’ stock market indexes Perpetual Swaps. As highly leveraged products they are designed largely for high frequency trading (HFT) market participants.
The Europe 50 (EUROPE50IXF0:USTF0) and Germany 30 (GERMANY30IXF0:USTF0) swaps went live on Monday 28 September, with the contracts based upon market data provided by Cboe Europe and settled in Tether (USDt).
Each contract - effectively giving exposure to a swathe of major European blue-chip stocks - will offer users up to 100 times leverage and will be settled in tether (USDt).
Paolo Ardoino, CTO at Bitfinex Derivatives commenting in the wake of launch this Monday said: “This is the first time that an exchange from the digital asset space has launched a product that bridges the gap with traditional stock markets, representing a significant milestone in the evolution of crypto as an established asset class.”
The Italian executive added: “Notably, settlement is in tether (USDt). This will facilitate the seamless settlement of cross-asset class trading strategies, hedging and the management of risk.”
The development comes as over 80% of traders on the Bitfinex platform today comprise HFT players and firms who are pursuing sophisticated algorithmic trading strategies. With the two new swap products they can go long or short with a high degree of leverage and capture more trading opportunities.
While markets will remain open over the weekend, price limits will be put in place to increase price stability according to an exchange spokesperson.
As such markets in EUROPE50IXF0:USTF0 and GERMANY30IXF0:USTF0 will have a +/-5% cap on the final mark price from 4:30 PM UTC (3:30 PM UTC during the period when Central Europe observes CEST) until 8:00AM UTC (7:00 AM UTC (during the period when Central Europe observes CEST) on the next buiness day).
The perpetual contracts for these two products are more particularly described in the updated Derivative Product Descriptions found at https://www.bitfinex.com/legal/derivative_product.
Bitfinex Derivatives platform, which launched in September 2019, and the products it offers are only available in eligible jurisdictions, and are exclusive to verified users.
FTSE Mondo Visione Exchanges Index:
Bitfinex Derivatives Goes Live With Europe 50 & Germany 30 Perpertual Swaps, Roger Aitken Reports
Date 29/09/2020