Earlier today, on October 31, the bitcoin price has achieved a new all-time high at $6,450, mainly triggered by CME Group’s plans to launch a bitcoin futures exchange by the end of 2017.

Many analysts including Jamie McGeever of Reuters and Nick Baker of Bloomberg attributed the recent surge in the price of bitcoin to the introduction of CME’s bitcoin futures exchange launch in the fourth quarter of 2017.

CME Group is the largest options exchange in the world, not just in the domestic market within the US, which brings in $3.6 billion in annual revenue and controls $69 billion in assets. Its integration of bitcoin will expose bitcoin and the entire cryptocurrency market to a whole new array of institutional and retail investors within the traditional financial industry.

Investors and high profile traders who previously could not invest directly in bitcoin will be able to invest in the cryptocurrency through strictly regulated channels like CME’s futures exchange. As CCN.com reported, many large-scale US-based investors such as Mark Cuban cannot pursue direct investments in bitcoin. For that reason, Cuban had invested in bitcoin earlier this month through XBT Provider, a bitcoin exchange-traded note (ETN) operator in Nordic Nasdaq, in Sweden.

The market has gained absolute confidence over the mid-term performance of bitcoin over the past two days and as a result, the price of bitcoin has continued to achieve new all-time highs. The vast majority of investors expect bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to be approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the upcoming months, at least by mid-2018, given the performance of LedgerX, a bitcoin options, futures, and derivatives trading platform approved by the US government, and the entrance of CME into the market.

Where Does Bitcoin Go From $6,450?

Prominent financial analysts including Max Keiser have reaffirmed their mid-term target for the price of bitcoin at $10,000, expecting institutional and retail traders to engage in bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading in the short-term.

As billionaire hedge fund investor Mike Novogratz previously noted, a “herd” of institutional investors are already preparing to invest in bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market.

“I can hear the herd coming. I was just in San Francisco, met with a few big institutional investors, and they are still a way away but they’re coming. Lots of funds are being raised and so I’m pretty confident to say that it [Bitcoin price] is going higher,” Novogratz said in an interview with CNBC.

Several analysts have further emphasized that the breach of the $7,000 mark in the next few days will result in bitcoin price achieving $10,000 by the end of 2017, or at least by early 2018. Analysts are expecting the price of bitcoin to achieve $7,000 prior to the SegWit2x hard fork in November. As Tuur Demeester noted, the November 16 hard fork of SegWit2x could result in a minor correction for bitcoin, as did Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold.

But, as of current, the market and investors remain highly confident in the short-term trend of bitcoin price, and the increasing liquidity markets like CME and LedgerX will provide to the traditional financial industry in the near future.

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