To introduce myself: I am Samuel Reed, CTO of BitMEX. This has been a long time coming! We have been working on BitMEX for over a year now, most of us full-time. We know that solid derivatives trading has been sorely lacking from the Bitcoin ecosystem since its inception. Our aim is to provide the most available, most usable, most programmable derivatives exchange for cryptocurrencies, with a frontend built for traders so they can have the maximum amount of control and data available. We are also the only exchange that allows you to hedge your Bitcoin without any risk of haircuts or "socialized losses" that can make hedging impossible.

My central focus is the developer API and the frontend. I am happy to answer any questions you have about how to use the API, the site, to handle bugs and feature requests, and answer any other technical questions.

We have a GitHub issue tracker as well as a support site linked on the page. You can also always reach me here, on the site chat, or on my email (sam[at]bitmex.com). Our organizational profile also has a few API connectors and a market making bot that is free to use and customize.

We launch tomorrow at 12 GMT, in about 17 hours. In the meantime, if you want to see what we have in store, check our our testnet, deposit some testnet coins, and place some orders.

We will be releasing materials in the near future explaining how to use futures to hedge and speculate in interesting ways not possible on other exchanges. CoinRepublic did a great video about a month back with our CEO, Arthur Hayes, about how to use BitMEX to hedge arbitrage trading so you can cover yourself during the 3+ days it can take to move fiat between exchanges. The same is possible for mining operations, or any situation where you might need to hold Bitcoin and insure its value.

We're very excited about what the future will bring for the Bitcoin ecosystem and for BitMEX. In the coming months, we will be offering new products not available at any other exchange.