One Trading live with Europe's first regulated perpetual futures

One Trading, which secured in July regulatory approval to launch the market, went live on Wednesday with Bitcoin/ Euro and Ethereum/ Euro cash-settled perpetual futures, according to the firm.

Joshua Barraclough, the chief executive of One Trading, said: “The launch of our perpetual futures platform is a major milestone in our three-year journey. From the start, our goal has been to simplify trading by making markets more accessible, transparent and cost-effective.”

One Trading offers 24-7 trading of the perpetual futures, which have become popular with retail traders in the cryptocurrency market, but in a regulated environment which should appeal to institutions keen to increase their exposure to the asset class.

Barraclough said: “Today, we are delivering on that vision with the launch of a fully regulated, vertically integrated onshore exchange for perpetual futures. Customers will no longer need to pay vast fees in margin to get access to leverage, trade contracts-for-difference (CFDs) or need to trade on unregulated offshore venues.”

Amsterdam-based One Trading, unlike some of the traditional exchanges that have launched cryptocurrency futures, is not cleared, rather the new platform offers “real-time settlement” of all positions every 60 seconds.

The new venue said its model “challenges existing financial market infrastructure as the first to eliminate costly post-trade processes in favour of a clear, safe and robust structure”.

The firm also said on Wednesday “a number of market participants are live” before pledging the extension of the market to eligible retail clients “in the coming weeks”.

Europe’s approach to crypto regulation may put the bloc at odds with the new US regime’s deregulatory agenda but the global crypto market will harmonise over time as the industry matures, a panel of experts suggested at an Amsterdam conference this month.

Amsterdam-based D2X launched in December with cash-settled, euro-denominated calendar Bitcoin and Ethereum futures.

Chicago’s CME Group has established itself as the regulated cryptocurrency derivatives venue of choice, trading 3.95 million lots of its main Bitcoin futures contracts last year, according to FOW Data, which was up two fifths on 2023.

Eurex’s US dollar-denominated Bitcoin future, which launched in March 2023, traded 30,800 lots last year, which was down 53% on the previous year, according to FOW Data.