Bitcoin futures $18,000 on CBOE debut

Bitcoin futures above US$18,000 on debut at CBOE as the price spike triggered a series of trades. The bitcoin futures contract rose more than 20 percent ended in January on the Chicago bourse or rose 25 percent compared to the opening rate of US$15,000. The trading volume was 2,278 January contracts, 7 for February contracts and 23 for the March contract.

The bitcoin price traded at US$16,356 or 9 percent from the previous day in the CoinDesk index tracking prices from Bitstamp, Coinbase and Bitfinex. As trading started at 7:00 pm Hong Kong time on Monday, the CBOE website briefly dropped.

Under the CBOE rules, a 10 percent price move triggered a two-minute halt, while a 20 percent move triggered a five-minute halt. CBOE is the world's first traditional stock exchange that launches bitcoin futures trading using Gemini Trust prices.

One futures contract will be worth one bitcoin available 24 hours a day for 5 days a week. The CBOE website provides only the offer price and relevant information where all future trades should be made through the broker.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group will also launch bitcoin futures trading on December 18. The CME contract is based on an index of four bitcoin exchanges are Bitstamp, GDAX, itBit and Kraken.