CME Group, the world’s derivatives marketplace, announced plans to launch Solana (SOL) futures on March 17, pending regulatory review.
Market participants will have the choice to trade both “a micro-sized contract (25 SOL) and a larger-sized contract (500 SOL).”
Giovanni Vicioso, Global Head of Cryptocurrency Products at CME Group.
“With the launch of our new SOL futures contracts, we are responding to increasing client demand for a broader set of regulated products to manage cryptocurrency price risk. As Solana continues to evolve into the platform of choice for developers and investors, these new futures contracts will provide a capital-efficient tool to support their investment and hedging strategies.”
CME Group SOL futures will be cash-settled and based on the CME CF Solana-Dollar Reference Rate, which serves “as a once-a-day reference rate of the U.S. dollar price of SOL and is calculated daily at 4:00 p.m. London time.”
SOL futures will join the company’s crypto product suite “that includes Bitcoin and Ether futures and options futures.”
YTD trading highlights:
- Average daily volume of 202,000 contracts, up 73% year-over-year
- Average open interest of 243,600 contracts, up 55% year-over-year
- More than 11,300 unique accounts trading
Teddy Fusaro, President of Bitwise Asset Management, Inc. said:
“The launch of SOL futures is a significant milestone in the ongoing maturation of the cryptocurrency market. This announcement underscores CME Group’s commitment to and leadership in offering institutional investors and active traders advanced tools for trading and risk management. With the introduction of Bitcoin and Ether futures, CME Group paved the way for the broader institutionalization of crypto as an asset class and set the stage for more regulated financial products such as ETFs to enter the market. The addition of these new contracts further demonstrates CME Group’s leadership and its continued role in shaping the evolution of this dynamic asset class.”
Kyle Samani, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Multicoin Capital said:
“Multicoin Capital applauds CME Group’s continued innovation in the digital asset space and is proud to support the launch of their SOL derivatives offering. As the digital asset market matures and demand continues to grow, sophisticated investors need better ways to get exposure and manage volatility. CME Group’s new crypto derivatives provide just that, giving investors increased flexibility with less upfront capital.”
Elad Even-Chen, Group CFO of Plus500 said:
“The new SOL futures contracts are further examples of CME Group innovating in the retail crypto trading space for the benefit of customers. These contracts will bring a new dimension for retail futures traders and will help manage their cryptocurrency portfolios by allowing them to further diversify their holdings. We are proud to be supporting this latest product launch, which is based on scalable, well-established and trusted cryptocurrencies.”
SOL futures will be listed on and subject to the rules of CME.
As the world’s 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 offer a 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 “through 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.”