Investing.com – Bitcoin pared some of its losses on Thursday, after falling as much as 20% from recent all-time highs, while bitcoin gold remained near session lows.
On the U.S.-based Bitfinex exchange, bitcoin fell to $9592, down $187.1, or 1.91% after recovering from a more than 20% slump below $9000 earlier in the session. The popular digital currency is well below its recent all-time high of $11,771. Bitcoin’s market cap fell to $162.15 billion.
The sharp swings in bitcoin comes amid signs of growing institutional demand as news reports suggested that Nasdaq, the second largest stock exchange in the world, plans to launch futures contracts for Bitcoin next year.
JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) said last week it was considering whether to provide its clients access to bitcoin futures following the CME Group’s plan to introduce bitcoin futures before the end of the year.
"Effective Sunday[,] 10 December 2017 for trade date Monday[,] 11 December 2017, and pending all relevant regulatory review periods, please be advised that CME will launch Bitcoin Futures." The CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) noted on its website last week.
The recent wave of optimism concerning bitcoin futures has added to investor hopes that bitcoin exchange-traded funds will follow the launch of bitcoin futures, which would cement bitcoin as an established asset class.
Bitcoin cash fell 6.72% to $1,246.40, while bitcoin gold fell 2.17% to $275.
Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, fell 1.13% to $417.43.