Following a mini flash-smash higher this morning, cryptos just knee-jerked abruptly lower across the board...no immediate catalyst was evident.

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Bitcoin was banged lower...

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Testing recent spike low support levels...

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But Ethereum took a bigger hit...

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This decline happens as CoinTelegraph reports, CME Group, the second global exchange to list bitcoin futures, is about to record the biggest trading month for BTC futures trading, industry news outlet The Block reports May 21. The publication has reportedly cited data from an external email from CME.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange purportedly revealed that the average daily bitcoin futures trading volume hit a new high of 14,000 contracts solely in May 2019.

To date, May 13 has reportedly become the biggest trading day for CME’s bitcoin futures, with the platform having registered 33,700 contracts worth $1.35 billion in bitcoin at the time. The exchange also revealed that the number of BTC futures trading accounts has hit more than 2,500.

In the report, CME has also summarized its total bitcoin futures trading results, claiming that the exchange has traded more than 1.6 million contracts since it was launched in December 2017, which accounts for over $50 billion in notional value.

As previously reported, CME Group had seen a massive growth of bitcoin futures trades on May 13, which represented a 50% spike versus the previous high on April 4. On the other hand, the exchange previously revealed that its net income dropped 17% in Q1 2019 despite rising revenues.

Crypto markets have recently seen the first major bullish move in 2019, with bitcoin surging from an average price point of $4,000 to above $8,000 starting from April 1, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Earlier today, Cointelegraph reported that major Japanese crypto exchanges, including Bitpoint, DMM Bitcoin and Coincheck, have registered a 200% surge of new account signups since the end of March 2019.