Mubasher: The first bitcoin futures that began trading on 10 December in the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) are due to expire on Wednesday, while the initial CME contract expires on 26 January.

This comes as bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general are seeing a huge drop in market values, which lead to rising concerns among investors.

Investors in many futures products will typically roll over their contract into the next month, but with bitcoin nothing is certain, CNBC said in a recent report.

As bitcoin futures are settled in cash, there is a risk that investors will push around the futures contracts at the close simply by aggressively buying and selling.

If the futures prices got out of whack with the cash, arbitragers will step in, the news agency noted.