CME Group, the derivatives marketplace, announced that its Bitcoin Friday futures (BFF) have launched and are available for trading. 31,498 contracts traded across two different contract weeks.
The first trade, a block, took place on Sunday, September 29 and was executed by Galaxy and Marex.
Giovanni Vicioso, Global Head of Cryptocurrency Products at CME Group said that with more than 31,000 contracts traded on day one, Bitcoin Friday futures have now reportedly become their most “successful” crypto futures launch ever.
Giovanni added that they are pleased to see such early customer interest and support for these new contracts (on screen and via the block market).
They explained that the smaller size of these contracts and a weekly Friday expiry, will provide investors with an accessible way to enter the bitcoin market and will also enable them to effectively manage their BTC exposure.
Harry Benchimol, Co-Head of Derivatives Engine at Marex said that the launch of CME Group’s Bitcoin Friday futures is a key step toward crypto adoption within a regulated environment.
Harry added that these weekly contracts provide efficient hedging by closely tracking the spot price and provide a cost-effective exposure to bitcoin.
They also noted that by introducing a product closer to the popular perpetuals on crypto platforms, CME Group is focused on closing the gap between traditional financial and crypto markets.
They further noted that Marex is pleased to have executed the first block trade, reinforcing their commitment to enhancing liquidity and driving innovation in the crypto market.
Bitcoin Friday futures are sized at one-fiftieth of one bitcoin and 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 is 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.
As the derivatives marketplace, CME Group enables clients to trade futures, options, cash and OTC markets, optimize portfolios, and analyze data – empowering market participants worldwide to efficiently manage risk and capture opportunities.
CME Group exchanges claim to offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural products and metals.
The company offers futures and options on futures trading via the CME Globex platform, fixed income trading via BrokerTec and foreign exchange trading on the EBS platform.
In addition, it operates one of the world’s central counterparty clearing providers, CME Clearing.
