International derivatives marketplace CME Group today announced it will further expand its cryptocurrency derivatives offerings with the introduction of Bitcoin Friday futures (BFF) on September 30, pending regulatory review.
Sized at one-fiftieth of one bitcoin, these new weekly futures contracts will be 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 will be 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.
A Friday expiry allows these contracts to closely track the spot price of bitcoin, as well as help investors mitigate weekend price moves.
“With these weekly expiring smaller-sized contracts, investors of all sizes – from institutions to sophisticated, active retail traders – will be able to more accurately fine-tune their bitcoin exposure on a regulated exchange,” said Giovanni Vicioso, CME Group Global Head of Cryptocurrency Products. “By settling to the BRRNY, the benchmark used by leading spot bitcoin ETFs, traders will also benefit from growing liquidity and the ability to more efficiently capture market moves during U.S. hours.”
Bitcoin Friday futures will join CME Group’s deeply liquid suite of benchmark Bitcoin futures contracts. Year-to-date trading highlights include:
- Bitcoin futures record average daily volume (ADV) of 14,554 contracts;
- Bitcoin futures record open interest (OI) of 27,900 contracts;
- Micro Bitcoin futures record ADV of 37,000 contracts;
- Micro Bitcoin futures record OI of 28,000 contracts.
