CME Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CME) disclosed that it has decided to launch Micro Bitcoin and Micro Ether options futures on March 28, 2022. The company confirmed that the launch is conditional on regulatory review. CME Group revealed that it has worked closely with clients and the broader industry to launch strong and liquid cryptocurrency futures and options markets at CME Group.
The new Micro Bitcoin and Micro Ether options contracts will be one-tenth the size of their respective underlying tokens, giving a wider range of market participants from institutions to advanced, active, individual traders more ways to handle their visibility to the two most valuable cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
Furthermore, these contracts will be supplementary to the current Bitcoin options contracts, which were established in 2020 and are sized at five bitcoins. Clients will also have the opportunity of expressing long- or short-term views, with monthly, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday weekly choices expiring.
In addition to this, CME Group announced that approximately 5.2 million Micro Bitcoin and Micro Ether futures contracts have changed ownership in less than a year. Its micro-sized choices will allow traders of all sizes to effectively hedge market-moving events with greater accuracy and agility or fine-tune their cryptocurrency market exposure, based on the strength and liquidity of the fundamental contracts.