Bitcoin’s trading landscape is tilting further toward traditional finance, with CME Group poised to strengthen its grip on institutional crypto markets.

CME’s plan to introduce 24/7 bitcoin derivatives trading later this year could mark a structural turning point. By removing weekend shutdowns, the exchange would erase one of the last competitive edges held by crypto-native platforms: continuous access.

Karl Naim, Chief Commercial Officer at XBTO, said nonstop trading on a regulated venue makes it easier for hedge funds and macro managers to increase exposure.

“Traditional managers prefer instruments and clearing structures they already trust,” Naim said. “If they can trade bitcoin futures around the clock without changing systems or assuming unfamiliar counterparty risk, adoption becomes far more seamless.”

CME already dominates regulated bitcoin futures by open interest, and its contracts serve as a key hedging tool for U.S. spot ETF flows. Until now, however, the exchange’s weekend closure created pricing gaps while offshore crypto exchanges continued operating — limiting institutions’ ability to manage risk in real time.

With continuous trading, that limitation disappears. Institutions will be able to hedge exposures at any hour, tightening arbitrage spreads between CME futures and offshore perpetual swaps. As pricing discrepancies shrink, the need to maintain balances on crypto exchanges purely for access diminishes.

For compliance-focused allocators and sovereign funds, CME increasingly resembles the primary infrastructure for bitcoin exposure rather than a complementary venue.

Even within the crypto industry, the growing influence of regulated derivatives markets is widely acknowledged. Earlier this year, Hong Fang, president of OKX, argued that digital asset derivatives volumes could one day rival or surpass spot trading, reinforcing regulated volatility markets as anchors of global price discovery.

From Retail Movement to Institutional Market

Naim views the shift as part of bitcoin’s broader maturation. What began as a retail-led movement rooted in decentralization has gradually evolved into a market shaped by institutional allocators and sovereign capital.

“Large institutions gravitate toward structures they understand,” he said, noting that many first gained exposure through spot ETFs before expanding into futures and other derivatives strategies.

As institutional flows grow, bitcoin’s short-term performance is increasingly tied to macroeconomic conditions and global risk appetite. In periods of geopolitical stress or risk-off sentiment, BTC tends to move alongside equities and other risk assets.

That dynamic highlights the irony of bitcoin’s trajectory. While conceived as a decentralized alternative to Wall Street, the asset’s liquidity and risk management infrastructure are becoming more centralized within established financial institutions — reflecting a reality where institutional capital prioritizes regulated access over ideological origins.