April Equity Index Product Review

*Through April 30, 2023

• Equity Index futures and options volume averaged 5.6M contracts per day in April 2023 
• Equity Index open interest averaged 10.1M contracts per day in April 2023

Bitcoin futures and options: Institutional interest remains strong as investors continue to seek regulated venues/products to hedge rising market volatility and manage risk and exposure. Futures trading in April averaged 9.2K contracts and open interest (OI) averaged 14.5K contracts (+4% vs. Mar-23). Bitcoin options traded over 126.7K contracts since launch and had an average OI of 9.1K in April.

Micro Bitcoin futures: Micro Bitcoin futures, launched in May 2021, have traded nearly 8.3M contracts. These contracts are 1/10 of a Bitcoin and settled to the CF Bitcoin Reference Rate. In April, average daily volume (ADV) was 12.1K contracts (+3% vs. Mar-23), and OI averaged 10K contracts.

Micro Bitcoin and Micro Ether options: CME Group launched options on Micro Bitcoin futures and Micro Ether futures on March 28. These options are 1/10 the size of their respective tokens. Over 512K contracts have been traded since launch across all expiries, with trades from EMEA, APAC, and North America participating. 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 2.9M Ether futures contracts have traded since launch (equivalent to 147M Ether). The April ADV was 5.3K and OI averaged 4.7K (+13% vs. Mar-23).

Ether options: CME Group launched Ether options on September 12. These options offer a way to efficiently manage Ether exposure at a 50x multiplier. Since launch, nearly 6.2K contracts have traded, equivalent to over 307K Ether. April saw a record ADV of 75 contracts (+64% vs. Mar-23), with OI averaging 1.5K. Learn more here:

• Landing page
• Fact card
• FAQ

Micro Ether futures: Since Micro Ether futures launched in December 2021, over 6M contracts have traded. The ADV in April was 13.5K contracts (+56% vs. Mar-23) and OI averaged 15.7K contracts.  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.

Bitcoin Euro and Ether Euro futures: CME Group launched Bitcoin Euro futures and Ether Euro futures on August 29. The new contracts are designed to match that of their U.S.-denominated counterparts at 5 bitcoin, or 50 Ether, per contract. The contracts settle to the respective CME CF Bitcoin-Euro Reference Rate (BTCEUR_RR) and CME CF Ether-Euro Reference Rate (ETHEUR_RR). Learn more here:

• Landing page
• Bitcoin Euro
• Ether Euro
• Cryptocurrency futures FAQ
• Fact card

Micro E-mini futures: Since Micro E-mini Equity Index futures launched, over 2B  contracts have traded. A combined ADV in April was 1.9M. In addition to Micro E-mini Equity Index futures, you can now trade Micro E-mini S&P MidCap 400 and SmallCap 600 futures, launched on March 20. Learn more here:

• Landing page

Micro E-mini options: CME Group launched Micro E-mini options on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 Indices in 2020. Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 options continue to gain ground against their Micro E-mini S&P 500 options counterparts in terms of volume contribution. Since launch, over 7M contracts have traded, with the April ADV being 16.4K. 

Now enjoy greater precision and versatility in managing short-term exposure with the introduction of Micro E-mini S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday options, which launched on February 13. These new contracts complement the existing Friday weekly, end-of-month options, and quarterly options on Micro E-mini S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures. Learn more here:

• Landing page
• FAQ

E-mini S&P 500 option blocks: ES options blocks are continue to grow in popularity, as they allow market participants to execute large trades with greater efficiency. Over 30M blocks have traded, with an ADV at 56.9K contracts in April. 

CME Group launched block trading for NQ options in January 2022. The minimum block size is 60 contracts and nearly 21K contracts have been traded since their eligibility.

AIR Total Return futures: CME Group launched S&P 500 AIR TRFs in September 2022 as a listed alternative to OTC swaps. Client adoption continues to gain momentum as UMR deadlines approach. In April, ADV was 2K and OI averaged a record 313.8K (+3% vs. Mar-23). Russell 2000 AIR TRF is starting to trade alongside Russell 2000 Dividend futures.

Dividend futures: In April, CME Group Dividend futures had a combined ADV of 4.4K, while S&P 500 Annual Dividend Index futures ADV was 3.1K. Nearly 47K contracts have traded since the launch of CME Group Annual Dividend Index futures on Nasdaq-100 and Russell 2000 in early 2022.

Equity Sector futures: In April, CME Group Equity Sectors futures ADV was 10K and an average OI was 222. Introduced last year, the market has embraced Derived block functionality, with nearly 200K contracts traded overall across the various sector products.

TOPIX futures: USD-denominated TOPIX Index futures launched on November 21. These futures provide market participants a new way to capture benchmark Japanese equity exposure while minimizing FX risk. This is the first USD-denominated TOPIX futures contract, which complements the existing yen-denominated TOPIX contract and provides trading opportunities in different currencies. 

Achieve capital efficient exposure by saving on potential margin offsets against other Equity Index futures at CME Group. Traders can utilize the dynamic quanto spreading opportunities between the yen- and USD-denominated TOPIX contracts created by the JPY/USD exchange rate. Access trading through outrights electronically on CME Globex, capture the certainty of the close using Basis Trade at Index Close (BTIC), or bilaterally negotiate EFP transactions. Learn more here:

• Landing page
• Fact card
• FAQ