South Korea announced its decision to ban bitcoin futures trading. This means that clients will not have the option to benefit of bitcoin futures trading in this country. The news might come as a shock for securities brokers, who were already working to introduce bitcoin futures trading on the market.

The Financial Services Commission's directive on the matter was revealed on December 5. The directive will cover all members of the Korea Financial Investment Association. The Korea Herald revealed that Korean brokers were not prepared for this, and they actually had to cancel some scheduled client seminars for bitcoin futures trading.

Of course, several analysts claimed that because of this decision South Korea will be losing momentum compared to other markets.

For instance, in the United States, bitcoin futures will begin trading on the Chicago Board Options Exchange this week and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange starting with December 18.

The price of bitcoin has also reached a new high, and allegedly the support received in the US might be one of the factors influencing this new growth.

However, the US is not the only country moving to bitcoin futures trading. Japan and its Tokyo Financial Exchange also announced plans to launch bitcoin futures.