CME Group Plans to Launch Options for Ether Futures Ahead of Merge

One of the largest derivatives marketplace, Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), announced plans to launch options on Ether futures on September 12th, subject to regulatory review.

• The new product release comes as CME Group recorded 1.8 million Ether futures contracts traded to date.
• With the highly anticipated Ethereum Merge nearing, Tim McCourt  – Global Head of Equity and FX Products at the company – said he observed demand from market participants to manage Ether price risk. In a statement, the executive added,

“The launch of these new options contracts builds on the significant growth and deep liquidity we have seen in our existing Ether futures, which have traded more than 1.8 million contracts to date.”

• Notably, a significant chunk of Ether options activity undergoes via OTC desks.
• CME’s new Ether options, on the other hand, are expected to offer clients greater flexibility and additional “precision” to manage investors’ ETH exposure ahead of market moving events.
• The derivatives marketplace already offers Bitcoin options. It launched BTC futures in 2017 and introduced ETH futures four years later.
• It also started offering micro-sized Bitcoin and Ethereum options earlier this year, citing growing investor demand for such products.
• Extending support to CME Group on rolling out of its full-sized Ether options contract, Sam Newman, Digital Assets Head of Brokering at TP ICAP, said,

“This larger-sized Ether option, in tandem with the already popular Micro Ether option, has been eagerly awaited by TP ICAP’s customers. With the upcoming Ethereum protocol merge, we expect this new contract to see significant interest from both our traditional customers as well as crypto native clients.”