The Chicago Mercantile Exchange launched its "Micro Bitcoin" futures product in an attempt to capitalize on bitcoin's price rally this year and build upon the successful launch in 2017 of a regular futures contract for the largest cryptocurrency.
The futures contract was announced in late March but has just opened for trading.
- “At one-tenth the size of one bitcoin, micro bitcoin futures will provide an efficient, cost-effective way for a broad array of market participants – from institutions to sophisticated, active traders – to fine-tune their bitcoin exposure and enhance their trading strategies,” Tim McCourt, head of equity index and alternative investment products at CME Group, said in a press release.
- “By lowering the barrier of entry, more traders will be able to gain exposure to bitcoin,” said John Bartleman, president of TradeStation Group, the parent company of an online trading platform that will offer clients micro BTC futures.
- "At the 6 p.m. open last night, we executed the first block trade of 140 lots for two of our clients – Genesis Trading and XBTO. These smaller right-sized CME micro bitcoin futures contracts will make crypto futures trading more accessible for traders of all sizes," wrote Brooks Dudley, global head of digital assets at brokerage firm ED&F Man Capital Markets.
- The CME micro bitcoin futures are cash-settled and based on the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate.