In the few days since CME Group launched its Bitcoin futures contract, prices on the market have fallen, in stark contrast with the 20% growth which occurred following Cboe’s futures launch on December 10th.

Each contract which CME offers represent five bitcoins, whereas a contract offered by Cboe represents one bitcoin, which could be significant when it comes to the volume of trading which occurs. By the end of the first day of trading, CME futures closed at $19,100, just over 2% lower than the price envisaged before the launch.

Chief executive of trader DV Chain, Garrett See, spoke to the Wall St. Journal: \"Before the Cboe launch, there were fears that Wall St. would enter the market to short bitcoin, but that doesn’t have appeared to have occurred.\"

As bitcoin undergoes a price correction, falling below $18,000 after significant gains, investors are buying shares in Grayscale’s Bitcoin Investment Trust at a price which is double the market value, with GBTC trading at an ‘implied’ price of almost $38,000 per bitcoin.

The cryptocurrency markets are also seeing large investments in alternatives to Bitcoin such as Litecoin and Ethereum, with many of these currencies reaching all-time highs. The true impact of futures trading on the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies remains to be seen.