March 2022 Equity Index Product Review

 *Through March 31, 2022

• Equity Index futures and options volume averaged 7.2 million contracts per day in March 2022 (+2% vs. Mar. 21).
• Equity Index open interest averaged 9.5 million contracts per day for the month of March 2022 (+19% vs. Mar. 21).

Bitcoin futures and options: Futures March ADV was 8K and open interest averaged 10.8K. LOIH averaged 81 YTD, indicating continued institutional interest. Over 61.3K Bitcoin options have traded since their launch in early 2020, for a notional value of nearly $7.8B. March average OI was 1.7K, an average daily value of nearly $350M.

Micro Bitcoin futures: Launched May 3, 2021, Micro Bitcoin futures have traded nearly 5M contracts. The futures are 1/10 of a Bitcoin and settled to the CF Bitcoin Reference Rate. March ADV was 17.1K and OI averaged 18.8K (+22% vs. Feb. 21).

Micro Bitcoin and Micro Ether options: CME Group introduced options on Micro Bitcoin futures and options on Micro Ether futures on March 28. The new options are right-sized at 1/10 of their respective tokens. Over 20.2K contracts traded in the first week across the various expiries with trades submitted from EMEA, APAC, and North America.

Learn more here:

• Landing page
• Fact card
• FAQ

Ether futures: CME Group launched Ether futures on February 8, 2021. The contract is cash-settled and based on the regulated CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate. Over 1.2M Ether futures contracts have traded since launch (equivalent to 56.4M Ether). March ADV was 4K and open interest averaged 3.4K.

Micro Ether futures: Launched December 6, over 1.4M contracts have traded since launch. ADV in March was 16.2K and OI averaged 23.3K. Sized at 1/10 of one ether, the contract provides an efficient, cost-effective way to manage exposure to one of the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Enjoy the same features of the larger Ether futures (ETH) at a fraction of the size, settled to the regulated CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate.

Micro E-mini futures: Nearly 1.3B Micro E-mini Equity Index futures contracts have traded since launch. March ADV was 2.9M across the four indices. Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures has maintained its leading share of ADV at 1.36M in March, followed by Micro E-mini S&P 500 futures at 1.26M.

For more information on Micro E-mini futures here.

Micro E-mini options: CME Group launched Micro E-mini options on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 indices in August 2020. Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 options continue to gain ground against their Micro E-mini S&P 500 option counterpart in terms of volume contribution. Since launch, a combined 4M contracts have traded, with a March ADV of 13.2K.

For more information on Micro E-mini options, visit:

• Landing page
• FAQ

E-mini S&P 500 ESG futures: The Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investment theme continues to gain attention and implementation as the need for capitally efficient ESG solutions has grown. The S&P 500 ESG futures contracts allow market participants to gain price exposure to an index that closely tracks the performance of the S&P 500, while adhering to ESG principles. E-mini S&P 500 ESG futures continue to experience significant growth, with over 5% of volume trading during non-U.S. hours. March ADV was 2.4K, with open interest averaging 13K (+16% vs. Feb. 22).

E-mini S&P Europe 350 ESG futures: Launched May 2021, the new E-mini S&P Europe 350 ESG Futures are cash-settled to the S&P Europe 350 ESG index. The index is Pan-European, covering developed markets across over 15 different countries. The four largest individual country weights as of April 8, 2021 are UK 23.58%, France 18.08%, Switzerland 17,16% and Germany 14.90%. The index is based on the robust ESG index methodology, same as the one applied to S&P 500 ESG index and is right sized in terms of number of constituents at around 230. Since launch, nearly 3.1K futures have traded.

Visit the following for more details:

• Landing Page
• FAQ
• Fact card

Total Return futures: CME Group launched the S&P 500 Adjusted Interest Rate (AIR) Total Return futures in September 2020. March ADV was 4.2K (+54% vs. Feb-22) and OI averaged a record 192K (+8% vs. Feb. 22). On March 31, the contracts reached a record OI of 200,514.

Visit the following for further detail:

• Landing Page

Adjusted Interest Rate (AIR) Total Return futures Expansion:

• FTSE 100 Adjusted Interest Rate (AIR) total Return futures: On June 7th CME launched AIR Total Return futures on the FTSE 100 Index. The new futures will give total return exposure with an overnight floating rate built in using SONIA as the financing reference rate.
  
  To learn more, please visit the following:
  • Landing page
  • FAQ
  • Fact card

• Nasdaq-100, Russell 1000, Russell 2000 and DJIA AIR Total Return futures: Launched July 26th, 2021, now access US Indices total return equity index exposure with an enhanced floating rate.
  
  Learn more here:
  • Landing page

Nasdaq-100 Volatility Index futures: On January 10, the VOLQ futures multiplier was reduced from $1,000 to $100, allowing market participants to hedge risk and express a view around Nasdaq-100 at-the-money volatility with more precision. Since the mutliplier change was implemented, nearly 12.2K contracts have traded. Open interest averaged 50 contracts in March. Learn more here.

Nikkei futures: Nikkei 225 futures ADV reached 54.4K in March (+5% vs. Feb. 22), and average OI was 63K for the month. Nikkei 225 futures can be transacted through the MOS (Mutual Offset System); in 2021, about 75% of volume was traded outside of Tokyo cash hours, and more than 60% of ADV was traded before the U.S. market open (during non-US hours).

Bloomberg Commodity Index: Effective in December, CME Group adjusted the contract specifications and fees for our Bloomberg Commodity Index futures. Fees were lowered, while the minimum price increment and daily settlement were changed to allow participants to seamlessly access our markets. Learn more here.