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The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) has ascended to the position of the second-largest bitcoin futures exchange, boasting a notional open interest of $3.54 billion, and trailing only slightly behind Binance's $3.83 billion. This recent development, coupled with the fact that CME's cash-settled futures open interest surpassed 100,000 BTC for the first time, has led to CME securing a record 25% share in the BTC futures market.

These figures indicate a significant shift from retail to institutional traders in the cryptocurrency market, with CME and Binance vying for dominance in the futures open interest market. Despite Binance, a global cryptocurrency exchange, slightly leading with over 28% market share compared to CME's 26%, the competition is fierce. The total open futures contracts represent an investment of 400,000 Bitcoin, with Binance leading at 113,419 Bitcoin and CME closely following at 103,075 Bitcoin.

Standard and micro bitcoin futures contracts at CME correspond to 5 BTC and one-tenth of a BTC respectively. Some observers see this rise as an institutional-led rally. André Dragosch from Deutsche Digital Assets attributes it to the unwinding of bearish bets on offshore unregulated exchanges.

The role of retail investors is also evident in this scenario. ProShares' bitcoin futures ETF volume witnessed a 420% increase to $340 million last week according to data from Matrixport. Amid macroeconomic uncertainty and optimism surrounding spot ETFs, Bitcoin has seen a significant surge of 27% this month. The majority of open interest in offshore exchanges is concentrated on perpetual futures.

This escalating competition between Binance and CME underscores the increasing institutional interest in cryptocurrency markets and the evolving dynamics of Bitcoin futures trading.

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