Huobi is launching a bitcoin futures trading feature on its BitVC platform with a 10-day simulated trading competition to get users involved.

The exchange is offering prizes of funded trading accounts to the top 50 traders in the competition, which closes at 12:00 (Beijing time) on 19th September. The only catch is, winners must then turn those accounts into profits to pocket the winnings.

BitVC

COO Wang Huaiqiang explained the competition's purpose:

Existing BitVC users may participate immediately, but new users must register at BitVC first. A regular account with parent company Huobi's exchange is not necessary.

At the start of the competition, users will receive 100 'virtual BTC' to trade in the simulated BitVC futures market.

The name, rank, and profit of the top 50 traders will be posted and updated daily. If two users have the same profit percentage at the end of the competition, whoever has the higher trading volume will take the upper place.

One first-prize winner will receive trading accounts worth 50 BTC, four second-prize winners will get 25 BTC each, 10 third-prizers will get 10 BTC each and 35 fourth-prize winners 1 BTC each.

Winning one of these prizes is similar to gaining a place in the World Cup finals: in effect, you haven't won yet. Next, the prize money must be used for trading for one month and winners need to demonstrate further trading talents to score the bitcoins.

At the end of that month, the principal prize amount is returned to BitVC and the winner pockets whatever profit they've made from trading.

If there is no profit, then no prize. Should an account fall to less than 80% of the prize principal during the month, the remainder goes back to BitVC and that user's participation in the finals ends – at least with BitVC's money.

For the full competition rules, see the company website.

BitVC is the Hong Kong-registered subsidiary of Huobi, which is based in Beijing.

BitVC offers more exotic trading features like margin trading, interest-bearing 'Yubibao' wallets and now derivatives – a limited, fixed-term deposit offer based on a mining facility saw all subscriptions sold in the first hour when it went live last week.

While BitVC margin trades are executed on the Huobi main exchange via its API, BitVC Futures will have no direct connection other than Huobi's inclusion in the BTC-CNY price index.

Other features are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

Image via Huobi/BitVC