Quote from: jseverson on September 29, 2018, 02:24:53 PM

Quote from: The Pharmacist on September 28, 2018, 12:27:36 AM

As far as I know, there isn't a futures market in bitcoin.

Bitcoin futures have been available for a while now:

https://www.cmegroup.com/trading/bitcoin-futures.html

Misunderstood that. Thanks extasie!

Quote from: cryptocrusher on September 27, 2018, 02:07:34 PM

Futures backed by real bitcoin is what the market really needs. It taps in to the rich resources of large institutional investors who do not wish to go through the hassle of purchashing bitcoin themselves but it actually has a direct influence on the price unlike all of the current futures we have. It will also with that make manipulation using futures far more difficult. I would actually hope to one day see only physically backed futures but I doubt that will ever happen.

I see where you're coming from. Some people are against it though, because it gives financial giants motivation to hoard massive amounts of coins. It's going to drive up prices like crazy for sure, but it also gives them a very sizable influence.

I misunderstood that too when I first read it, was a little confused for a while so you're not alone there!

It might lead to that sort of market movement but it's not really any different to anything else with a limited supply. The physical market won't act any differently to the non physical market in that sense because buying up the bitcoin supply should force the price up irrespective of any futures markets. At least if the price is trying to be manipulated by people holding plenty of bitcoin they'll have to relinquish those bitcoin if they want to speculate on futures.