CME Group to Launch Options on Micro Gold Futures as Retail Participation Jumps

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Sep 11, 2023, 09:30 ET

CHICAGO, Sept. 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today announced that it will launch options on Micro Gold futures on October 2, 2023, pending regulatory review.

"A wide range of investors believe gold to be a safe-haven asset, especially in periods of volatility and economic and geopolitical uncertainty," said Jin Chang Hennig, Managing Director and Global Head of Metals at CME Group. "Growing demand has driven a spike in CME Group gold markets, with average daily volume in Micro Gold futures increasing 40% from last year and retail participation in our benchmark Gold futures contract up 17% year-over-year. By expanding our offerings to include the new Micro Gold options, traders of all sizes will have even more flexibility to express a view on gold."

CME Group's smaller-sized Gold and Silver futures contracts launched over a decade ago and have seen a significant uptick in participation over the last five years:

Micro Gold futures volume has grown an average of 58% each year.
Micro Silver futures volume has grown an average of 93% each year.
Average daily open interest (ADOI) in Micro Gold futures has grown an average of 20% each year.
Micro Silver futures ADOI has grown an average of 36% each year.

"30% of trading volume in our gold markets now occurs during non-U.S. trading hours," added Hennig. "With strong interest from the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, our Micro Gold futures volume has increased 34% from last year. This speaks to the global appeal of our markets and the progress we have made in making them more accessible and efficient for a diverse range of participants."

Options on Micro Gold futures will be listed by and subject to the rules of COMEX. For more information and for product specs, please visit here.

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 Inc. CBOT 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 and EBS are trademarks of BrokerTec Europe LTD and EBS Group LTD, respectively. 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