CME Group, the world’s leading derivatives marketplace, announced it plans to further expand its cryptocurrency derivatives offering with the introduction of Bitcoin Euro and Ether Euro futures on August 29, pending regulatory review.
Designed to match their U.S. dollar-denominated counterparts, Bitcoin Euro and Ether Euro futures contracts will be sized at five bitcoin and 50 ether per contract. These new contracts will be cash-settled, based on the CME CF Bitcoin-Euro Reference Rate and CME CF Ether-Euro Reference Rate, which serve as once-a-day reference rates of the euro-denominated price of bitcoin and ether. These new futures contracts will be listed on and subject to the rules of CME.
“Ongoing uncertainty in cryptocurrency markets, along with the robust growth and deep liquidity of our existing Bitcoin and Ether futures, is creating increased demand for risk management solutions by institutional investors outside the U.S. Our Bitcoin Euro and Ether Euro futures contracts will provide clients with more precise tools to trade and hedge exposure to the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap,”
said Tim McCourt, Global Head of Equity and FX Products, CME Group.
CME Group’s Cryptocurrency product suite continues to provide consistent liquidity, volume, and open interest for clients seeking to hedge their risk or gain exposure to the asset class. Q2 was a record quarter in terms of average daily open interest (106.2K contracts) and was the second highest quarter ever in terms of average daily volume (57.4K contracts) across all Cryptocurrency products. In addition, Ether futures achieved a record average daily volume of 6.6K contracts in Q2, up more than 27% versus Q1.
Featured image credit: Edited from rawpixels