CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today announced it plans to further expand its cryptocurrency derivatives offering with the addition of Micro Bitcoin Euro and Micro Ether Euro futures on March 18, pending regulatory review.
"Global investors have sought more precise tools to manage their risk as interest for bitcoin and ether grows. As such, we have seen a four-fold increase in volume in our USD-denominated Micro Bitcoin and Micro Ether futures," said Giovanni Vicioso, Global Head of Cryptocurrency Products at CME Group. "The launch of these new Micro Euro-denominated contracts will provide clients with additional products to more efficiently hedge bitcoin and ether exposure in the second-highest traded fiat behind U.S. dollar-based contracts. Year-to-date, 24% of Bitcoin and Ether futures volume at CME Group has been transacted from the EMEA region, and we continue to develop additional tools for clients there to hedge their crypto portfolios and express or take a view on potential market moves."
Designed to match their U.S. dollar-denominated counterparts, Micro Bitcoin Euro and Micro Ether Euro futures contracts will be sized at one-tenth of their respective underlying cryptocurrencies. These new futures contracts will be listed on and subject to the rules of CME.
"TP ICAP will support this market-defining crypto derivative from CME Group by providing block facilitation services to this product. Our global Digital Assets business has been providing price discovery and execution services on CME Group's suite of crypto derivatives since the start of 2020, leveraging TP ICAP's strengths in connecting market participants as the foundation for our Digital Assets proposition," said Sam Newman, Digital Assets Head of Broking at TP ICAP. "Interest in crypto derivatives has seen huge worldwide growth in recent years and these new euro-denominated micro futures contracts will help further expand the accessibility and utility of crypto derivatives, particularly within Europe."
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. January was a record month in terms of average daily volume (71K contracts) across all Cryptocurrency products. In addition, average daily open interest for Bitcoin and Ether futures reached all-time highs for the month (23.5K contracts and 6K contracts, respectively). Micro Bitcoin and Micro Ether futures also saw a trading surge, with average daily volumes growing 43% versus December 2023.