Bitcoin prices rose after futures of the cryptocurrency began trade on the Cboe Futures Exchange for the first time on Sunday evening U.S. time.

The futures, which trade under the 'XBT' ticker, briefly turned negative, but quickly reversed those losses to trade at $16,860 at 9:05 p.m. New York time. That was some 9.06 percent above the opening price of $15,460 for the January contract.

Among the benefits bitcoin futures will bring about to traders are improved transparency, price discovery and liquidity, according to the Cboe.

Following the Cboe's launch, CME Group is set to start trading bitcoin futures one week later on Dec. 18, while Reuters has reported that the Nasdaq plans on launching bitcoin futures in 2018.