Bitcoin spot and futures market microstructure

Journal Article (Journal Article)

We study Bitcoin (BTC) trading at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and four settlement spot exchanges that transact $146 million per day in the BTC/USD pair. Spot market median trade sizes are under $1,300 but exceed $18,000 on the CME. Bid-ask spreads average 0.0298%. Trade sizes of over $1 million move markets by less than 1%. 2.5% of trades and 15.5% of cancellations on Coinbase take place within 50 ms. Bid-ask spreads exceed 0.8% for only 226 s. Most executions trade-through better quotes, with estimated losses of $36 million. The CME leads price discovery. BTC leads Ethereum price adjustment.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Aleti, S; Mizrach, B

Published Date

  • February 1, 2021

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 41 / 2

Start / End Page

  • 194 - 225

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1096-9934

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0270-7314

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1002/fut.22163

Citation Source

  • Scopus