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CME to Launch Micro Bitcoin Futures in May
CME's micro futures contract will provide institutions and individual traders one more tool to hedge their spot market risks.
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 12:33 p.m. Published Mar 30, 2021, 12:50 p.m.
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Derivatives exchange Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) will launch smaller-sized bitcoin futures contracts in May, potentially expanding the number of people who bet on the future price of the leading cryptocurrency.
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- In an announcement on Tuesday, the CME said the new contracts sized at one-tenth of one bitcoin will be available for trading on May 3 and will be cash-settled based on the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate.
- "The introduction of Micro Bitcoin futures responds directly to demand for smaller-sized contracts from a broad array of clients and will offer even more choice and precision in how participants can trade regulated bitcoin futures in a transparent and efficient manner at CME Group," Tim Court, CME Group global head of Equity Index and Alternative Investment Products, said in a press release.
- The micro futures will offer features and benefits of CME Group's standard bitcoin futures, launched in 2017.
- The CME climbed ranks in the second half of 2020 and became the biggest bitcoin futures exchange as per open interest by the end of December, in a sign of increased institutional participation. Recently, the exchange has slipped to the number four spot.
- A futures contract is a standardized legal agreement to buy or sell something at a predetermined price at a specified time in the future.
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