CME Introduces Friday Bitcoin Contracts

CME Group is to launch Bitcoin Friday futures (BFF) on September 30, pending regulatory review – the new contracts are sized at one-fiftieth of one bitcoin, and will be cash-settled to the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate New York Variant (BRRNY) at 4:00pm New York time every Friday.

A new BFF contract will be listed every Thursday at 6:00pm New York time for a Friday trade date, with market participants able to trade the nearest two Fridays at any given point, CME says, adding that a Friday expiry allows the contracts to track the spot price of bitcoin, as well as help investors mitigate weekend price moves.

“With these weekly expiring smaller-sized contracts, investors of all sizes – from institutions to sophisticated, active retail traders – will be able to more accurately fine-tune their bitcoin exposure on a regulated exchange,” says Giovanni Vicioso, CME Group global head of cryptocurrency products. “By settling to the BRRNY, the benchmark used by leading spot bitcoin ETFs, traders will also benefit from growing liquidity and the ability to more efficiently capture market moves during US hours.”

Steve Sanders, EVP of marketing and product development at Interactive Brokers, adds, “With a shorter duration and smaller-sized contract, Bitcoin Friday futures will offer our active trader and institutional investor clients a flexible and cost-effective new way to manage their bitcoin exposure in a transparent market.”