April Equity Index Product Review

*Through April 30, 2022

• Equity Index futures and options volume averaged 6.6 million contracts per day in April 2022 (+42% vs. Apr-21)
• Equity Index open interest averaged 8.9 million contracts per day for the month of April 2022 (+19% vs. Apr-21)

Bitcoin futures and options: Futures April ADV was 7.7K and open interest averaged 11K. LOIH averaged 81 YTD indicating continued institutional interest. Over 62.8K Bitcoin options have traded since their launch in early 2020 for a notional value of nearly $8.1B. April average OI was 1.6K, an average daily value of nearly $332M.

Micro Bitcoin futures: Launched May-21, Micro Bitcoin futures have traded over 5.2M contracts in their first year. The futures are 1/10 of a Bitcoin and settled to the CF Bitcoin Reference Rate. April ADV was 15.1K and OI averaged 19.2K (+2% vs. Mar-22).

Micro Bitcoin & Micro Ether options: CME Group introduced options on Micro Bitcion futures and options on Micro Ether futures starting March 28. The new options are right-sized at 1/10 of their respective tokens. Over 41.4K contracts traded in the first month 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 1.3M CME Ether futures contracts have traded since launch (equivalent to 64.8M Ether). April ADV was 4.2K (+4% vs. Mar-22) and open interest averaged 3.4K (+4% vs. Mar-22).

Micro Ether Futures: Launched December-21, nearly 1.8M contracts have traded since launch. ADV in April was 19.7K (+21% vs. Mar-22) and OI averaged 37.7K (+47% vs. Mar-22).  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.

Micro E-mini futures: Over 1.3B Micro E-mini Equity Index futures contracts have traded since launch. April ADV was 2.8M across the four indices. Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures has maintained its leading share of ADV at 1.3M in April, followed by Micro E-mini S&P 500 futures at 1.2M.

For more information on the Micro E-mini futures, please visit our website 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 options counterpart in terms of volume contribution. Since launch, a combined 4.1M contracts have traded, with an April ADV of 11.1K.

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

• Landing page
• FAQ

E-mini S&P 500 Tuesday & Thursday options: CME Group launched E-mini S&P 500 Tuesday and Thursday options April 25th. Day 1 Tuesday and Thursday E-mini S&P 500 options surpassed 82K contracts with open interest exceeding 79K, making this the most successful options launch in CME Group's history. The new options offer more opportunities to manage short-term equity exposure with more choices to trade throughout the week. The contracts complement the existing suite of Quarterly, End-of-Month, and Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Weekly options. These options settle into liquidity E-mini S&P 500 futures, which have averaged 1.9M contracts daily. Learn more here.

S&P 500 Dividend futures: Equity Index Dividend futures provide an efficient tool to hedge or express a view on the U.S. dividend market, regardless of the price movement of the benchmark indices. Quarterly and annual contracts are available on the S&P 500 Index. April ADV was 3K and open interest averaged 210K (+4% vs. Mar-22). Annual contracts are available on the Nasdaq-100 and Russell 2000 Indices as of April 11.

Nasdaq-100 and Russell 2000 Dividend futures:

• Landing Page
• FAQ
• SER

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 allows market participants to gain price exposure to an index that closely tracks the performance of the S&P 500, while adhering to ESG principles. CME Group E-mini S&P 500 ESG futures continue to experience significant growth, with April open interest averaging 13.5K (+4% vs. Mar-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.

Please visit the following for further detail:

• Landing page
• FAQ
• Fact card

Total Return futures: CME launched the S&P 500 Adjusted Interest Rate (AIR) Total Return futures in September 2020. April OI averaged a record 209K (+9% vs. Mar-22). April 28 reached a record OI of 212,264.

Please 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 7 CME Group 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 26, 2021, now access U.S. 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 multiplier change was implemented, nearly 14.5K contracts have traded. Learn more here.

Nikkei futures: Nikkei 225 futures ADV reached 35K in April and average OI was 50K 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 access our markets more seamlessly. For more info, visit our website here.