CME Group launches micro Ether futures as ETH hovers at $4K

Published at: Dec. 6, 2021

Major derivatives marketplace Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group has expanded its crypto offerings to include a micro Ether futures product.

In a Monday announcement, the CME Group said it had launched a micro Ether (ETH) futures contract sized at 0.1 ETH, giving institutional and individual traders another product for Ether exposure. The cash-settled micro ETH derivatives offering is trading under the Globex code METZ1 and joins crypto derivatives products at the exchange including micro Bitcoin (BTC) futures, Bitcoin futures, options on Bitcoin futures, and Ether futures.

The newest member of the CME Group cryptocurrency product family has arrived. Micro Ether futures are available for trading. https://t.co/bJoZWA7qZz

— CME Group (@CMEGroup) December 6, 2021

Tim McCourt, CME Group’s global head of alternative investment products, said the offering would allow investors “to hedge their spot Ether price risk or more nimbly execute Ether trading strategies.” Genesis Global Trading, one of the liquid providers for CME Group’s crypto derivatives offerings, said it had already executed a contract for the micro ETH futures product in partnership with crypto investment firm XBTO.

“The Micro Ether futures contract fills a need for greater flexibility and more precise delta hedging,” said Joshua Lim, Genesis’ head of derivatives.

Related: Kelly Strategic Management files for Ethereum futures ETF

The announcement came following the price of ETH and many cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin falling significantly over the weekend. According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro, the ETH price has dropped more than 15% since hitting an all-time high of $4,785 on Nov. 8. At the time of publication, the price of the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is $4,016, having fallen more than 13% in the last seven days.

CME Group first launched its Bitcoin futures contracts in December 2017 amid the major bull run. The exchange’s micro Bitcoin futures product launched in May, with the company reporting on Dec. 2 it traded more than 3.3 million contracts.

Tags
Ethereum
Business
Futures
Ethereum Price
Cme
Related Posts
Kelly Strategic Management files for Ethereum futures ETF
Denver-based investment firm Kelly Strategic Management has filed for an exchange-traded fund (ETF) offering exposure to Ethereum (ETH) futures contracts. The move comes just three months after VanEck and ProShares suddenly withdrew their ETH futures ETF applications on the same day in August. According to a Nov. 29 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Kelly Ethereum Ether Strategy ETF will invest in cash-settled Ether futures contracts traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). Bloomberg’s Senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas noted on Twitter today that Kelly’s Ether ETF may have a slim 20% chance of getting approval, …
Etf / Nov. 30, 2021
Traders predict $3,800 Ethereum, but multiple data points suggest otherwise
Investors tend to not complain about a price rally, except when the chart presents steep downside risks. For example, analyzing Ether's (ETH) current price chart could lead one to conclude that the ascending channel since March 15 is too aggressive. Thus, it is only natural for traders to fear that losing the $3,340 support could lead to a retest of the $3,100 level or a 12% correction down to $3,000. Of course this largely depends on how traders are positioned, along with the Ethereum network's on-chain metrics. For starters, the Ethereum network’s total value locked (TVL) peaked at ETH 32.8 …
Markets / March 31, 2022
Crisis in crypto lending shines light on industry vulnerabilities
The crypto market has entered a bearish phase as prices of major cryptocurrencies have fallen to a four-year low. The current downturn in the crypto market has driven several crypto firms to go out of business, while many have made severe job cuts to remain afloat. The crypto market crisis began with the Terra debacle that saw $40 billion in investors’ money vanish from the market. At the time, the crypto market showed good resistance against such a massive collapse. However, the after-effects of the collapse had a greater impact on the crypto market, especially crypto lending firms, which many …
Ethereum / June 23, 2022
ETH whales move holdings onto exchanges before Merge
Ethereum blockchain is slated for one of the biggest updates since its inception, as it will transition to a proof-of-stake (PoS) mining consensus from its current proof-of-work (PoW) one. The Merge date is scheduled for Sept. 15, after the successful Goerli test net integration — the final test net merger before the actual transition. Ether (ETH), the native token, was on a bullish surge after the announcement of the Merge date in July with the ETH price rising to a new six-month high of over $2,000 but failed to consolidate the critical resistance. The bullish enthusiasm in terms of token …
Ethereum / Aug. 25, 2022
Ethereum derivatives look bearish, but traders believe the ETH bottom is in
Ether (ETH) rallied 5.5% in the early hours of Nov. 29, reclaiming the critical $1,200 support. However, when analyzing a broader time frame, the 24% negative performance in the past 30 days significantly impacts investors' sentiment. Moreover, investors’ mood worsened after BlockFi filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 28. Newsflow remained negative after the United States Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced a settlement with Kraken exchange for "apparent violations of sanctions against Iran." In a Nov. 28 announcement, the OFAC said Kraken had agreed to pay more than $362,000 as part of a deal "to settle its …
Markets / Nov. 29, 2022