This articles answers the questions: 1) what is the Live Price of Ethereum, 2) where can I get it from in Real-Time and; 3) what is the recommended technology to stream it from an API
WebSocket is a fast communication protocol and ideal for streaming live prices. There is no such thing 1 price of Ethereum, but rather there are as many prices as Exchanges with differences between them more than $5. An ETH Index Price available that aggregates the prices across the exchanges. This article describes how this index can be streamed using WebSocket and Javascript
Futures on Ethereum are actively traded and are Cash Settled. There are usually 4 different maturities available to trade: 1) the Perpetual that roll s every day and therefore never matures; 2) and the next 3 quarterly futures with maturity on the last Friday of March, June, September and December.
Advantages of Futures is that they give access to leverage, you don't need to pay Gas to buy, or sell as there is no physical delivery of Ethereum, they are liquid and good choice for short to medium term trading. On the other hand, Future are a poor choice if you need ownership of Ethereum - such as if you are buying to hold - as the Future doesn't give you ownership.
So you've heard about Bitcoin and this thing called cryptocurrency but you are not sure of what it is or where to start? You keep seeing it mentioned on the news, hearing about it from some of your friends in an almost prophetic manner (which puts you even more in doubt about whether it is really legit) and even some dodgy Facebook ads show up on your feed about it. But what is it, really?
If I were to invest into this "internet money" I would like to know what am I really investing in. How does it work, which advantages and drawbacks does this new alternative bring amongst other dozens of questions that you may have on your mind right now. Sounding familiar?