LINK Futures on CME: A Milestone or a Warning Sign?

Yesterday, CME Group launched LINK futures trading on its exchange. The official Chainlink account on X called it a major milestone - and that is easy to understand. We are talking about the worlds largest derivatives exchange, regulated by the CFTC.

But this immediately reminded me of how Bitcoin went through the same milestone back in 2017. At the time, the entire crypto community celebrated the launch of futures as a huge achievement. It was expected to bring in institutional money. And for some reason, many assumed that this money would flow into buying Bitcoin - even if indirectly, through futures.

It quickly became clear that you do not need any Bitcoin to trade Bitcoin futures. All settlements on CME are done in US dollars. And futures can be used not only to pump the price, but also to dump it - especially if you have access to large amounts of capital.

Most people probably remember how that story ended. The launch date of Bitcoin futures on CME - December 18, 2017 - marked the beginning of the crypto winter.

After that experience, it is hard for me to see the launch of futures on yet another cryptocurrency as something inherently positive for it. That is why, after yesterdays announcement, I was expecting a LINK dump.

A day has passed. LINK is down 3.5%, while the total crypto market capitalization fell by 1.5% over the same period. There is a decline, but not the kind of dump I was expecting. Apparently, it is still ahead.

If you are also expecting LINK to drop further, now might be a good time to swap it for something more reliable. You can exchange LINK for any other cryptocurrency at the best rates on rabbit.io.