Over the past week, the bitcoin price has surged from around $6,500 to $7,400, as the market continued to demonstrate optimism towards the launch of bitcoin futures exchanges by some of the largest markets in the US such as CME and CBOE.

Several prominent financial analysts including Max Keiser have hinted this week that it is highly likely for the price to achieve $10,000 by the end of 2017, given its current upward momentum and the market’s absolute confidence over the mid-term performance of bitcoin.

“30,000 new bitcoin wallets a day. ETF coming soon. Wall Street just getting started. Regulators waking up to their impotence. Hello $10,000,” said Keiser.

Remember, My target since 2011 when I was the only public figure rec. #Bitcoin at $3, was $100,000. — Max Keiser (@maxkeiser) October 30, 2017

“Money on the Sidelines” to Bitcoin

Many users and investors have inquired about the significance of the launch of bitcoin futures exchanges by CME, CBOE, and LedgerX. Analysts such as IamNomad have explained that most high profile investors and large-scale retail traders are required by law to invest through strictly regulated channels.

With regulated futures, derivatives, and options exchanges around bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, high profile traders will be able to move “money on the sidelines” such as offshore bank accounts and wealth management products (WMPs) to bitcoin, which could potentially add tens of billions of new capital into bitcoin in the upcoming years.

As Keiser and the LedgerX team noted, Wall Street and the market of institutional investors are only beginning to engage in bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading. Already, without the absence of large retail and institutional traders, the price of bitcoin has surpassed the $7,400 mark. In the upcoming months, if more retail traders engage in the bitcoin exchange market as billionaire hedge fund legend Mike Novogratz has emphasized earlier this year, it will inevitably lead to the bitcoin price surging to new highs and building upward momentum.

As the LedgerX team revealed, in its first week of operation, the institution settled more than $1 million worth of derivatives and options trading around bitcoin.

“We ended up completing swaps and options trades worth over $1,000,000 USD. Crucially, these trades were cleared through LedgerX, which is the only institutional grade, US federally regulated exchange and clearing house for digital currencies. And we are literally just getting started,” said LedgerX.

By the end of 2017, CME and CBOE, two of the world’s largest options exchange market, will provide institutional investors an exclusive platform to trade bitcoin, offering a more liquid platform to swap cryptocurrencies.

Considering the statements of high profile investors like Novogratz who previously claimed that “a herd of institutional investors” are coming to the bitcoin market, it is likely that the $10,000 interim target of Max Keiser can be achieved in the upcoming months, potentially by the end of 2017.

However, in the short-term, a minor correction should be expected, specifically around the period of the SegWit2x hard fork on November 16, as a small portion of investors may allocate their funds into the newly created B2X.