Bitcoin Friday Futures Become Most Successful CME Group Cryptocurrency Product Launch

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Oct 01, 2024, 11:20 ET

CHICAGO, Oct. 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today announced that its Bitcoin Friday futures (BFF) have launched and are available for trading. 31,498 contracts traded across two different contract weeks. The first trade, a block, took place on Sunday, September 29 and was executed by Galaxy and Marex.

"With more than 31,000 contracts traded on day one, Bitcoin Friday futures have become our most successful crypto futures launch ever," said Giovanni Vicioso, Global Head of Cryptocurrency Products at CME Group. "We are pleased to see such early customer interest and support for these new contracts, both on screen and through the block market. The smaller size of these contracts, along with a weekly Friday expiry, will provide investors with not only a more accessible way to access the bitcoin market, but will also allow them to more effectively manage their bitcoin exposure – all on a regulated exchange."

"The launch of CME Group's Bitcoin Friday futures is a significant step toward crypto adoption within a regulated framework. These weekly contracts offer efficient hedging by closely tracking the spot price and provide a cost-effective exposure to bitcoin," said Harry Benchimol, Co-Head of Derivatives Engine at Marex. "By introducing a product closer to the very popular perpetuals on crypto platforms, CME Group is closing the gap between traditional financial and crypto markets. Marex is proud to have executed the first block trade, reinforcing our commitment to improving liquidity and driving innovation in the crypto market."

"The launch of Bitcoin Friday futures by CME Group represents a significant advancement in the broadening of crypto derivatives markets, offering investors a flexible and efficient way to manage their bitcoin exposure," said Michael Harvey, Head of Franchise Trading at Galaxy. "These weekly contracts closely track spot prices, providing a valuable tool for growing liquidity and optimizing trading strategies for traders of all types and sizes. As we continue to bridge the gap between traditional finance and the digital asset space, initiatives like this reinforce our commitment to empowering clients with the best solutions to manage their bitcoin exposure in a transparent market."

Bitcoin Friday futures are sized at one-fiftieth of one bitcoin and cash-settled to the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate New York Variant (BRRNY) at 4:00 p.m. New York time every Friday. A new BFF contract is listed every Thursday at 6:00 p.m. New York time for a Friday trade date, with market participants able to trade the nearest two Fridays at any given point.

For more information on these products, please visit www.cmegroup.com/bff.

As the world's leading derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) enables clients to trade futures, options, cash and OTC markets, optimize portfolios, and analyze data – empowering market participants worldwide to efficiently manage risk and capture opportunities. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural products and metals. The company offers futures and options on futures trading through the CME Globex platform, fixed income trading via BrokerTec and foreign exchange trading on the EBS platform. In addition, it operates one of the world's leading central counterparty clearing providers, CME Clearing.

CME Group, the Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Globex, and E-mini are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange ICBOT and Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc. BrokerTec is a trademark of BrokerTec Americas LLC and EBS is a trademark of EBS Group LTD. The S&P 500 Index is a product of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC ("S&P DJI"). "S&P®", "S&P 500®", "SPY®", "SPX®", US 500 and The 500 are trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC; Dow Jones®, DJIA® and Dow Jones Industrial Average are service and/or trademarks of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. These trademarks have been licensed for use by Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. Futures contracts based on the S&P 500 Index are not sponsored, endorsed, marketed, or promoted by S&P DJI, and S&P DJI makes no representation regarding the advisability of investing in such products. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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SOURCE CME Group