CME Group to launch micro bitcoin futures on May 3, trading at just one-tenth of a bitcoin

According to a press release on the official website of CME Group, CME will launch micro Bitcoin futures on May 3. Micro Bitcoin futures will be one-tenth of a Bitcoin. Smaller contracts will provide market participants (from institutions to individual traders) with another financial tool to hedge their spot Bitcoin price risk or execute Bitcoin trading strategies in an efficient manner while retaining the benefits of CME's standard Bitcoin futures.

“Since the launch of our Bitcoin futures contract in 2017, we have seen continued steady growth in liquidity and market participation in our crypto derivatives products, particularly among institutional traders,” said Tim McCourt, CME Group’s Global Head of Equity Index and Alternative Investment Products. “The launch of Micro Bitcoin futures will be a direct response to market client demand for smaller contracts and will provide investors with more choice and precision to trade regulated Bitcoin futures at CME Group in a transparent and efficient manner.”

Micro Bitcoin futures will join CME’s growing portfolio of cryptocurrency derivatives, including Bitcoin futures and options and the recently launched Ether futures. So far in 2021, an average of 13,800 CME Bitcoin futures contracts (equivalent to approximately 69,000 Bitcoin) have traded per day. Additionally, CME Ethereum futures have averaged 767 contracts per day (equivalent to 38,400 Ethereum) since their launch on February 8.

The new futures will be cash-settled based on the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate, a daily reference rate for the price of Bitcoin against the U.S. dollar. Micro Bitcoin futures will be listed and regulated by CME Group.

According to BitPush last week, Ed Tilly, CEO of Cboe Global Markets, said that they have not given up on Bitcoin futures. Tilly said: "We are still interested in this field and we have not given up. We are eager to build the entire platform. There is a lot of demand from both retail and institutions, and we need to enter this field."

It is reported that Cboe actually launched Bitcoin futures before CME (December 2017), and Cboe was the first US exchange to launch Bitcoin futures. But CME's Bitcoin futures have gained wider acceptance, while Cobe has failed, with its last Bitcoin futures contract settled in June 2019. After the first failed attempt, Cboe announced in December 2020 that it would re-list Bitcoin futures in the second quarter of 2020.