CME Group has announced it will further expand its cryptocurrency derivatives offerings with the introduction of Bitcoin Friday futures (BFF) on September 30, pending regulatory review.
Sized at one-fiftieth of one bitcoin, these new weekly futures contracts will be cash-settled to the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate New York Variant (BRRNY) at 4:00 p.m. New York time every Friday.
A new BFF contract will be listed every Thursday at 6:00 p.m. New York time for a Friday trade date, with market participants able to trade the nearest two Fridays at any given point.
A Friday expiry allows these contracts to closely track the spot price of bitcoin, as well as help investors mitigate weekend price moves.
“With these weekly expiring smaller-sized contracts, investors of all sizes – from institutions to sophisticated, active retail traders – will be able to more accurately fine-tune their bitcoin exposure on a regulated exchange,” said Giovanni Vicioso, CME Group Global Head of Cryptocurrency Products.
“By settling to the BRRNY, the benchmark used by leading spot bitcoin ETFs, traders will also benefit from growing liquidity and the ability to more efficiently capture market moves during U.S. hours.”
“We are pleased to support CME Group’s launch of these new weekly expiring bitcoin futures contracts and further expand the low-cost products available to our clients,” said Steve Sanders, EVP of Marketing and Product Development at Interactive Brokers. “With a shorter duration and smaller-sized contract, Bitcoin Friday futures will offer our active trader and institutional investor clients a flexible and cost-effective new way to manage their bitcoin exposure in a transparent market.”
“The new Bitcoin Friday futures (BFF) contract is another great example of CME Group’s continued innovation in the retail crypto trading space,” said Elad Even-Chen, Group CFO of Plus500.
“We are keen to support the launch of this shorter duration contract, which will suit the needs of a broad category of investors looking to manage their cryptocurrency portfolios with more flexibility and capital efficiency. The BFF contract will appeal to an international audience and the launch very much aligns with Plus500’s approach to product innovation and responding to customer feedback.”
“Bitcoin Friday futures will serve as a great trading complement to the existing suite of CME Group products we offer at Webull,” said Tanmay Sheth, Director of Futures at Webull.
“With its smaller notional size and weekly Friday expiry, Bitcoin Friday futures will allow our global traders a cost-efficient way to gain exposure to bitcoin, as well as effectively manage their existing product portfolios and capture new trading strategies.”
Bitcoin Friday futures will join CME Group’s deeply liquid suite of benchmark Bitcoin futures contracts.
Year-to-date trading highlights include: Bitcoin futures record average daily volume (ADV) of 14,554 contracts; Bitcoin futures record open interest (OI) of 27,900 contracts; Micro Bitcoin futures record ADV of 37,000 contracts; and Micro Bitcoin futures record OI of 28,000 contracts.
