The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has announced the launch of a new Bitcoin-derivative product that aims to meet retail investors’ demand.

The world’s largest financial derivatives exchange, CME Group, announced that it would introduce a new Micro Bitcoin futures contract. Although the new financial product is pending regulatory review, the firm expects to launch it as soon as May. 

According to Tim McCourt, CME Group Global Head of Equity Index and Alternative Investment Products, the derivative product will be one-tenth the size of one Bitcoin, providing retail investors and individual traders exposure to the digital asset. 

“The introduction of Micro Bitcoin futures responds directly to demand for smaller-sized contracts from a broad array of clients and will offer even more choice and precision in how participants can trade regulated Bitcoin futures in a transparent and efficient manner at CME Group,” said McCourt. 

The new contract will be cash-settled, based on the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate.

CME’s announcement comes shortly after PayPal revealed that its U.S. customers can now pay with cryptocurrencies for goods and services at millions of merchants. Such positive developments around the leading cryptocurrency have caused a significant uptick in prices recently. 

BTC has risen more than 4% in the last eight hours, gaining over 2,300 points. 

Transaction history shows that now the pioneer cryptocurrency faces little to no resistance ahead. If the buying pressure seen recently continues to accelerate, Bitcoin would likely slice through its recent all-time high of nearly $62,000 and march towards a new peak of $70,000 or higher. 

As long as the $52,850-$56,350 support level holds, the odds will continue to favor the bulls. 

Disclosure: At the time of writing, this author owned Bitcoin and Ethereum.

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