The keener crypto enthusiasts have noticed that Bitcoin fork coins such as Bitcoin Gold (BTG) and SegWit2x are currently trading and actually started trading long before their proposed forks. Exchanges such as HitBTC and YoBit are allowing these coins to be traded as future tokens on their platforms and the futures markets were first created to allow traders such as farmers to be able to guarantee their profits without being subject to the increased price volatility caused by only being able to sell when their goods and produce were ready.

Futures contracts are a way of agreeing to buy or sell a certain quantity of a particular product at a specific price on a future date. Bitcoin futures generally involve fixing the price that you want to buy or sell a particular amount of Bitcoin at a certain point in the future. Traders often choose to leverage their positions as it isn’t necessary to purchase immediately and this allows for more trading flexibility as they only post collateral, a small percentage of the cost. Leveraged trading exposes traders to larger levels of risk and HitBTC allows traders to simply trade tokens or IOU versions of coins. HitBTC preceded the Bitcoin Gold fork by opening BTC, ETH and USDT markets for futures trading. They also announced that all clients currently holding Bitcoin on the exchange will be credited the equivalent amount of BTG tokens within 24 hours in order to help facilitate BTG trading.

The exchange has also launched trading for the future chain split tokens of SegWit2x, which they titled B2X and promised that all traders with Bitcoin on their accounts will receive the exact amount of the introduced currency at the moment the hard fork happens.

Although traders are provided with the B2X tokens in advance, the actual tokens are not available for deposits or withdrawals, as the SegWit2x fork is not yet activated. These tokens are strictly for speculating on the HitBTC platform. However, once the fork has been activated B2X deposits and withdrawals will be enabled and any future split tokens purchased will turn live. Users will also receive an amount of B2X related to their BTC holdings on the exchange.

Early sellers of Bitcoin Gold look to have done well with BTG trading at around $500 just before the official fork. Since then BTG has plunged to a price of around $260, a price that if maintained would place BTG in a similar standing to Bitcoin Cash, which is currently trading around the $300 mark. The B2X token linked to the SegWit2x fork is trading around a price of $1000, which shows that the market is taking the November fork more seriously than this month’s occurrence.