The aspect of the Eris SOFR market affected most strikingly by PM-enabled market-making capacity has been the increased number of large block trades. Block trades have accounted for more than 75% of Eris SOFR volume for years, but 2024 brought a significant uptick in the number of block trades of $200,000 DV01 or more in outright risk.

As you can see in Figure 3, outright Eris SOFR block trades greater than $200,000 DV01, uncommon through 2023, rose to 53 in 2024 and more than 100 in 2025. For reference, $200K DV01 is approximately 2,500 contracts ($250 million notional) of 10-year Eris SOFR or 4,400 contracts ($440 million) of 5-year Eris SOFR. 

The combination of margin efficiency and increased demand for large blocks has, in turn, drawn additional liquidity providers into the Eris SOFR market. Between mid-2025 and mid-2026, the number of block market makers regularly participating in large Eris SOFR inquiries increased from three to nine. Figure 4 shows the current public list of Eris SOFR blocktrade  market makers; an updated list is available from CME Group and Eris Innovations.

The changing buy-side participant mix is another measure of Eris SOFR’s market development. 

Public data from the CFTC show that asset manager positions in Eris SOFR, negligible until early 2025, grew to nearly 250,000 contracts by September 2026, across the 2-, 5-, and 10-year maturities alone (see Figure 5).

For asset managers, the appeal is practical: Eris SOFR combines swap exposure with the capital efficiency and familiar workflows of futures. Portfolio managers can adjust portfolio duration without trading underlying bonds, express views on the SOFR curve and trade swap spread risk using Eris/Treasury Swap Spreads. Growing asset manager participation signals increasing acceptance of Eris SOFR as a tool for institutional portfolio management. 

The growth of Eris SOFR is also becoming material relative to the standardized OTC swap market. Clarus Financial Technology recently compared Eris SOFR volume with MAC SOFR swaps, the standardized OTC instruments that provide the closest direct benchmark: Eris SOFR volume was 10.6% as large as MAC SOFR swap volume in the first half of 2026, reaching 11.4% in Q2.

The progression places Eris SOFR’s growth in a broader context than futures volume and open interest alone. An exchange-listed alternative surpassing 10% of the volume of the established MAC SOFR swap market, and continuing to grow, indicates that a meaningful amount of standardized SOFR swap exposure is now being traded through Eris SOFR.

Block trade data from 2026 further demonstrates market participants’ ability to transact Eris SOFR in sizes that can be large relative to existing open interest. As highlighted in Figure 7, of 55 outright block trades in front month contracts with active order books traded YTD Aug. 31, 2026, nearly half (47%) were for order sizes exceeding 10% of the open interest in the contract at trade time, and nearly one-quarter (24%) exceeded 25% of open interest.

Despite the relatively large size of these trades, 75% of the 55 outright blocks transacted at prices equal to or better than resting best buy and sell orders.

Simply put, Eris SOFR liquidity, built atop a foundation of portfolio margining, swap dealer market making and institutional buy-side market participation, transcends the traditional open interest limitations that typically govern futures markets. 

As one broker puts it, “At this point, we’re seeing liquidity unconstrained by open interest. When I can get three or four market makers to price competitive two-way markets on trade sizes bigger than the open interest in the ticker, it shows there is something different going on here than you see in other markets.”

Another sign of Eris SOFR market development is the growing liquidity in off-the-run contracts, which are previously front-month Eris SOFR contracts now past their swap effective date.

For example, when Eris SOFR traded more than 167,000 contracts on August 3, 2026, including more than 95,000 off-the-run contracts, off-the-run open interest decreased by less than 18,000 contracts. This fact pattern implies 77,000 contracts were absorbed into the books of market makers establishing a new position rather than closing an old one. With market makers willing to enter into off-the-run positions and net them against their swap portfolios, end users can take advantage of the flexibility to hold Eris SOFR positions past the on-the-run period. 

According to a broker, “When clients ask about liquidity in off-the-run contracts, we draw on our actual trading experience. We have executed off-the-run block trades that exceeded the prior open interest in the contract, yet still received multiple competitive quotes from market makers. That level of participation suggests Eris SOFR is no longer traded as a standalone product, but as part of dealers’ broader swap risk management and liquidity framework.”  

^{* July 31 to August 3 change for tickers represented in these blocks; reflects all daily activity, not solely the blocks.}

The emergence of liquidity in 15- and 30-year tenors and launch of Eris Options are further evidence of the virtuous cycle created by margin efficiencies enabling deeper liquidity, expanded participation and increased daily volume. 

With rising rates in 2026 extending the duration of mortgage assets, asset owners have turned to 15- and 30-year Eris SOFR instruments to hedge longer-dated key rate exposure. Figure 9 shows the buildup of 15-year Eris SOFR open interest to more than 10,000 contracts ($1B notional) in the six-month period leading to September 30, 2026.

Last, CME Group’s launch of Eris Options in June 2026 marks an important milestone in the evolution of the Eris SOFR market from being a specialized hedging instrument into a mainstream vehicle for interest rate risk management.

The European-style options deliver into 2-, 5- and 10-year Eris SOFR Swap futures, combining a SOFR swaption-like risk profile with the execution, clearing and capital efficiencies of listed futures. Current expiries are available out to four months, enabling market participants to use them to manage volatility, mortgage convexity and other non-linear risks. More information on Eris Options is available at erisfutures.com/options and the CME Group article Trade Swaption Risk On-Exchange with Eris Options.