Three days before ethereum moves from proof of work (PoW) to proof of stake (PoS), CME Group, the world’s largest derivatives market by trading volume announced plans to list ethereum options, and while CME’s ether options product is still pending regulatory review, the company detailed that the options contracts will be measured at 50 Ether per contract, using the CME CF Ether Dollar reference rate.
CME Group reveals the launch of ethereum options
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, known as CME Group, revealed its intention to list ethereum option contracts three days before The Merge on September 12, 2022.CME said that the new ether options will be measured in both its bitcoin (BTC) options and micro-sized bitcoin and ether options contracts, detailing that they will join.
“These new contracts will offer 1 ether futures contract, with a size of 50 ether per contract, based on theCME CF Ether dollar reference rate. This rate will serve as a once-daily reference rate for the U.S. dollar price of ether,” Derivative Markets said Thursday.Tim McCourt, global head of equities and FX products at CME, noted Thursday that the new ether options contract will add to the company’s existing crypto derivative product lineup, he noted.
“The launch of these new options contracts builds on the significant growth and deep liquidity seen in our existing Ether futures, which have traded more than 1.8 million contracts to date,” McCourt said in a statement, while a CME executive added:
With the long-awaited ether merge looming next month, we continue to see market participants turning to CME Group to manage ether price risk. Our new ether option will provide flexibility and precision to a wide range of clients to manage their ether exposure in advance of market-moving events.
CME Group joins a number of exchanges that already offer ethereum options contracts, including Deribit, Okex, Bit.com, and Huobi. ether optionsvolume in July was $11.38 billionand ETHoptions, with Deribit accounting for $10.86 billion of the four exchanges that list ETHoptions.43} Open interest in Ether optionsmarket share also compared to open interest figures associated with Huobi, Okex, and Bit.com. Deribit are by far the largest.
In terms of bitcoin options, Deribit also beats CME, as CME Group recorded $441 million on August 17, rankingsecondin open interest for bitcoin options. Similarly, Deribit leads the CME in bitcoin options volume at
3rd
; Okex has managed to gain a bit more volume when it comes to bitcoin options.
With the new CME Ether Options, TP ICAP Digital Assets and Akuna Capital support CME’s Ether Options deployment TP ICAP Digital Assets is excited to support CME Group’s full-size Ether Options contract. We are excited to support the deployment,” Sam Newman, Head of Brokerage at TP ICAP, said in the announcement.” This larger Ether option has been eagerly awaited by TP ICAP’s customers, alongside the already popular Micro Ether option.”
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