CME Group to launch ETH options prior to the merge

CME Group to launch ETH options prior to the merge

The world’s largest financial derivatives marketplace CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) wants to launch options trading for Ethereum futures next month – 3 days prior to the scheduled Merge upgrade

In a Thursday statement, the company said that the product would be launched on its platform on Sept. 12, subject to regulatory approval. 

“The launch of these new options contracts builds on the significant growth and deep liquidity we have seen in our existing Ether futures, which have traded more than 1.8 million contracts to date,”

said the Global Head of Equity at CME Tim McCourt.

According to McCourt, the company has recently observed increased trading volumes and a broader interest in ETH futures and micro-sized ETH options, possibly because of the network’s impending transitory upgrade to proof-of-stake consensus. 

“As we approach the highly anticipated Ethereum merge next month, we continue to see market participants turn to CME Group to manage ether price risk. We expect this new contract to see significant interest from both our traditional customers as well as crypto native clients,”

he added. 

The new contract will deliver one ether future, measured at 50 ether per option, using the CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate. CME Group also offers Bitcoin options and micro-sized BTC options for its clients. 

With this, CME joins a host of other companies, including Okex, Deribit, Bit.com, and Huobi, to offer ETH option contracts.

In July, a total of $11.38 billion eth options were traded, with Deribit accounting for most of it at $10.86 billion, according to data from TheBlock.

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Author

Himan Mohapatra
Himan Mohapatra
Himan Mohapatra is an industry expert within the crypto-sphere and the primary journalist for Coinmash. He is an expert in finance and disruptive tech, such as blockchain.