The CME Group’s Ether Futures is one of the many crypto products set to go live in 2021.
The CME Group Inc (NASDAQ: CME) has announced plans to launch Ether Futures on its CME Globex platform by February 2021. According to a press release from the company, the proposed Ether Futures is pending regulatory review and it comes as a means to expand the firm’s diverse derivatives marketplace.
The CME Group noted that its proposed Ether Futures is based on a long-sought demand from clients who have embraced its earlier launched Bitcoin Futures, and now want the firm to diversify its crypto derivatives offerings. As the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization and average daily volume, the CME Group is confident that its proposed Ether Futures will also see a wide embrace from its clients across the board.
The Ether Futures will be subjected to the extant rules of the CME Group and the contract will be cash-settled, based on the CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate, which serves as a once-a-day reference rate of the US dollar price of Ether.
“Based on increasing client demand and robust growth in our Bitcoin futures and options markets, we believe the addition of Ether futures will provide our clients with a valuable tool to trade and hedge this growing cryptocurrency,” said Tim McCourt, CME Group Global Head of Equity Index and Alternative Investment Products. “Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency by both market capitalization and daily volume. The introduction of listed Ether futures to our time-tested, regulated CME Group derivatives marketplace will help to create a forward curve so Ethereum market participants can better manage price risk.”
The CME Group has a number of records to back up its clamor to launch new markets. The company’s 3-year old Bitcoin Futures record about 8,560 CME Bitcoin futures contracts (equivalent to about 42,800 bitcoin) being traded on average each day. The firm’s institutional interest also continues to build with the number of large open interest holders hitting a record of 110 in December.
CME Ether Futures: One of Many Crypto Products to Launch in 2021
The bull run and the massive institutional embrace the cryptocurrency ecosystem witnessed this year is prompting many large crypto services providers to launch crypto derivatives markets to secure a reasonable market share. The CME Group’s announced Ether Futures is one of the many crypto products billed for 2021, and arguably may not be the last.
Earlier, Coinspeaker reported that the Cboe Global Markets, the American company that owns the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and the stock exchange operator BATS Global Markets, unveiled its plans to launch its cryptocurrency index in the second quarter of 2021. These mainstream index providers are beginning to tap into the potentials that abound in the cryptocurrency marketplace. As both the retail and institutional investors in the crypto sphere anticipate the launch of these products, each of these companies is bound to devise innovative ways to compete for a larger market share.