I already do substantial volume with the Merc and have leased memberships. Unfortunately though their BTC and ETH products are weak offerings. IMHO they've sized the contracts incorrectly, which has resulted in poor liquidity when you really need it. Coupled with the margin requirements, I imagine they are only attractive to institutions forced to used regulated exchanges for longer term hedging.
I have no problem with the crypto "bucket shops" personally. I don't really consider them bucket shops as order flow goes through the matching engines. Since they aren't regulated I'm sure there's more than a few shinanigans being played, but if you've ever had transactions busted at a traditional exchange because some exchange member ended up out-of-pocket then you'll know fairness isn't a concept that exists anywhere in finance.
The crypto exchanges have innovated in several areas, and have structured some of their products in attractive ways (the convexity of the inverse perpetuals is very appealing for certain plays).
Just don't understand why competition in the space hasn't brought the fees down to sensible levels.
