Paper trading futures in Bitcoin CME contracts saw virtual gains of 3.5%, reflecting momentum traders’ response to recent ETF inflows. This helps assess scalability of crypto-related strategies before execution. Beyond lifecycle management, the reliability of price discovery becomes a central concern, according to the white paper. Market makers depend on real-time access to the underlying equity to hedge their options exposure. Without liquidity or up-to-date pricing in the underlying security, the OCC warns that “options pricing may become skewed,” which could lead market makers to pull back during thinly traded sessions. The paper underscores the importance of consistent trading hours across underlying securities, options contracts, and clearing operations to maintain market integrity. These added features are particularly valuable for futures trading, given how much advanced traders rely on technical data . The same is true when it comes to fundamental analysis , as Interactive Brokers provides outstanding sources for news and other real-world data. Paper trading futures for S&P MidCap 400 saw simulated range-bound action, with volatility compression giving traders an opportunity to practice options-on-futures spreads.