CME Adds Micro Ether Contracts
Posted by Colin Lambert. Last updated: November 3, 2021
Building upon the success if its Bitcoin micro contracts, CME Group has announced it will expand its crypto derivatives offerings with the introduction of micro Ether futures on December 6, pending regulatory review.
Sized at one-tenth of one Ether, the new futures contracts will, CME says, provide an efficient, cost-effective way for a range of market participants – from institutions to sophisticated, active, individual traders – to hedge their spot ether price risk or more nimbly execute ether trading strategies, all while retaining the features and benefits of CME Group’s larger-sized Ether futures.
“Since the launch of Ether futures in February, we have seen steady growth in liquidity in these contracts, especially among institutional traders,” says Tim McCourt, CME Group global head of equity index and alternative investment products. “At the same time, the price of Ether has more than doubled since these contracts were introduced, creating demand for a micro-sized contract to make this market even more accessible to a broader range of participants. Micro Ether futures will offer even more choice and precision in how they trade Ether futures in a transparent, regulated and efficient manner at CME Group.”
The new futures will join CME Group’s growing suite of cryptocurrency derivatives, including recently launched Micro Bitcoin futures which have traded more than 2.7 million contracts since launch in May. Since its own launch, more than 675,500 Ether futures contracts (equivalent to about 33.8 million ether) have also been traded.
The new contract will be cash-settled, based on the CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate, which serves as a once-a-day reference rate of the US dollar price of Ether. Micro Ether futures will be listed on and subject to the rules of CME.