CME’s new derivatives product allows market participants to hedge or speculate on Bitcoin price movements in the short term.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group’s Bitcoin Friday Futures (BFF) debuted with a record first-day trading volume among crypto futures offerings, with over 31,498 contracts traded across two contract weeks.
According to an Oct. 1 announcement, the Sept. 29 launch was the “most successful crypto futures launch ever,” with the first trade block executed by financial firms Galaxy and Marex.
The new derivatives product is sized at one-50th of a Bitcoin (BTC) and cash-settled every Friday against the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate New York Variant (BRRNY), a benchmark for BTC’s spot price.