CHICAGO, Oct. 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today announced it will expand its suite of Nikkei 225 futures contracts with the addition of yen- and U.S. dollar-denominated Micro Nikkei futures on October 28, pending regulatory review.

Sized at 50 yen and $0.50, respectively, these new micro-sized contracts will allow traders to capture Japanese benchmark trading opportunities with greater precision and will add to CME Group's existing suite of standard and E-mini Nikkei contracts.

"The addition of micro-sized yen- and U.S. dollar-denominated Nikkei futures contracts will allow global market participants to gain efficient access to the broader Japanese stock market, while also mitigating FX exposure and allowing more granular trading capabilities," said Paul Woolman, Global Head of Equity Index Products at CME Group. "Year-to-date, nearly 75% of trades in our Nikkei futures occurred outside of Tokyo cash hours, underscoring the need for around-the-clock liquidity for global market participants to manage their equity risk. Similar to their larger parent contacts, the smaller size futures contracts will also offer greater potential capital and margin efficiency."

Micro Nikkei futures will join CME Group's growing suite of micro equity futures contracts, which have traded more than 2.9 billion contracts to date. The launch of Micro Nikkei futures also marks 20 years since the listing of the first Nikkei futures contracts on CME Globex in 2004. Recent trading highlights include:

• 220 million cumulative Nikkei futures contracts traded since 2004
• Year-to-date average daily volume of 41,000 contracts, up 9% year-over-year
• Year-to-date open interest of 67,000 contracts, up 2% year-over-year

For more information on these products, please visit www.cmegroup.com/micronikkei.

As the world's leading derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) 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 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 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 leading central counterparty clearing providers, CME Clearing. 

CME Group, the Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Globex, and E-mini are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc.  CBOT and Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc.  NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc.  COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc. BrokerTec is a trademark of BrokerTec Americas LLC and EBS is a trademark of EBS Group LTD. The S&P 500 Index is a product of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC ("S&P DJI"). "S&P®", "S&P 500®", "SPY®", "SPX®", US 500 and The 500 are trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC; Dow Jones®, DJIA® and Dow Jones Industrial Average are service and/or trademarks of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. These trademarks have been licensed for use by Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. Futures contracts based on the S&P 500 Index are not sponsored, endorsed, marketed, or promoted by S&P DJI, and S&P DJI makes no representation regarding the advisability of investing in such products. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 

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SOURCE CME Group