January Equity Index Product Review

*Through January 31, 2023
Source: CME Group

• Equity Index futures and options volume averaged 6.7M contracts per day in January 2023 
• Equity Index open interest averaged 8.8M contracts per day for the month of January 2023

Bitcoin futures and options: Futures trading in January ADV was 9.9K (+33% vs. Dec-22) and open interest averaged 16.2K (+7% vs. Dec-22) with LOIH averaging 156 for the month. Over 101K Bitcoin options have traded since their launch in early 2020. January 2023 average OI was 7.3K (+5% vs. Dec-22), an average daily value of over $762M.

Micro Bitcoin futures: Since its launch in May-21, Micro Bitcoin futures have traded nearly 7.6M contracts. The futures are 1/10th of a bitcoin and settled to the CF Bitcoin Reference Rate. January 2023 ADV was 7.2K and OI averaged 8.1K.

Micro Bitcoin and Micro Ether options: CME Group introduced options on Micro Bitcion futures and options on Micro Ether futures starting March 28. The options are right-sized at 1/10th of their respective tokens. Nearly 445K contracts traded since launch across the various expiries with trades submitted from EMEA, APAC, and North America.

Learn more here:

• Landing page
• Fact card
• FAQ

Ether futures: CME Group launched Ether futures on February 8, 2021. The contract is cash-settled and based on the regulated CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate. Nearly 2.6M CME Group Ether futures contracts have traded since launch (equivalent to 129M Ether). January 2023 ADV was 5.4K (+46% vs. Dec-22) and open interest averaged 5.3K.

Ether options: Launched on September 12, Ether options offer another way to efficiently manage ether exposure at a 50x multiplier. Nearly 2.3K contracts have traded since launch, equivalent to nearly 113.5K ether. 

Learn more here:

• Landing page
• Fact card
• FAQ

Micro Ether futures: Since the launch in December 2021, nearly 5.4M contracts have traded. ADV in January 2023 was 10.6K (+17% vs. Dec-22) and OI averaged 19.6K.  Sized at 1/10th of one ether, the contract provides an efficient, cost-effective way to manage exposure to one of the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Enjoy the same features of the larger Ether futures (ETH) at a fraction of the size, settled to the regulated CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate.

Bitcoin Euro and Ether Euro futures: CME Group launched Bitcoin Euro and Ether Euro futures on August 29. The new contracts are designed to match that of their U.S.-denominated counterparts at 5 bitcoin or 50 ether per contract. The contracts will settle to the respective CME CF Bitcoin-Euro Reference Rate (BTCEUR_RR) and CME CF Ether-Euro Reference Rate (ETHEUR_RR).

Learn more here:

• Landing page
• Bitcoin Euro
• Ether Euro
• FAQ
• Fact card

Micro E-mini futures: Over 1.9B Micro E-mini Equity Index futures contracts have traded since launch. Combined ADV in January 2023 was 2.7M, +5% vs. Dec-22. For more information on the Micro E-mini futures, please visit:

Learn more here:

• Landing page

Micro E-mini options: CME Group launched Micro E-mini options on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 indices in 2020. Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 options continue to gain ground against their Micro E-mini S&P 500 options counterpart in terms of volume contribution. Since launch, nearly 5.8M contracts have traded, January 2023 ADV was 16.7K (+19% vs. Dec-22). 

Learn more here:

• Landing page
• FAQ

E-mini Tuesday and Thursday options: CME Group launched E-mini S&P 500 Tuesday and Thursday options on April 25. The options offer more opportunities to manage short-term equity exposure with more choices to trade throughout the week. The contracts complement the existing suite of quarterly, end-of-month, and Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Weekly options. These options settle into liquidity E-mini S&P 500 futures. January 2023 ADV was 232.6K between both contracts with over 38M contracts traded since launch.

Learn more here:

• Landing page

Launched October 3, now trade E-mini Nadaq-100 Tuesday and Thursday options. Nearly 418K contracts have traded since launch with a January 2023 ADV of 5.9K.

Learn more here:

• Landing page
• FAQ

Dividend futures: Equity Index Dividend futures provide an efficient tool to hedge or express a view on the U.S. dividend market, regardless of the price movement of the benchmark indices. Quarterly and annual contracts are available on the S&P 500 Index. CME Group Dividend futures continue to gain momentum as new participants enter the market. S&P 500 Annual Dividend Index futures January 2023 ADV was 3.4K contracts and average OI of 181K contracts. 

Annual contracts are available on the Nasdaq-100 and Russell 2000 Indices as of April 11. Nearly 24K Russell 2000 Annual Dividend futures have traded and open interest averaged 10.5K throughout the month. Nasdaq-100 Annual Dividend futures have traded nearly 7.2K contracts with open interest averaging 3.3K throughout the month.

Learn more here:

• Landing page
• FAQ
• SER

E-mini S&P 500 option blocks: Participation in ES options blocks continues to grow, allowing market participants to execute large trades with greater efficiency. Over 26.2M ES options blocks have traded, with January 2023 ADV at 66.4K contracts. NQ options became block eligible starting January 24, with a minimum block threshold of 60 contracts. Over 18.1K contracts have traded since eligibility.

AIR Total Return futures: Launched Sep-20, S&P 500 AIR TRFs offer clients a listed alternative to trading OTC swaps. Client adoption continues to gain momentum as the UMR deadlines approach. ADV in January 2023 was 3.1K and OI averaged a record 250K for the month. Russell 2000 AIR TRF is starting to trade alongside Russell 2000 Dividend futures.

E-mini S&P 500 ESG futures: The Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investment theme continues to gain attention and implementation as the need for capitally efficient ESG solutions has grown. The S&P 500 ESG futures contracts allows market participants to gain price exposure to an index that closely tracks the performance of the S&P 500, while adhering to ESG principles. CME Group E-mini S&P 500 ESG futures continue to experience growth, with January 2023 ADV at 732K and open interest averaging 12.2K.

E-mini S&P Europe 350 ESG futures: Launched May 2021, the new E-mini S&P Europe 350 ESG futures are cash-settled to the S&P Europe 350 ESG index. The index is Pan-European, covering developed markets across over 15 different countries. The four largest individual country weights as of April 8, 2021 are the UK 23.58%, France 18.08%, Switzerland 17.16%, and Germany 14.90%. The index is based on the robust ESG index methodology, same as the one applied to S&P 500 ESG index and is right sized in terms of number of constituents at around 230. Since launch, nearly 3.7K futures have traded.

Learn more here:

• Landing page
• FAQ
• Fact card

TOPIX futures: Launched November 21, USD-denominated TOPIX index futures provide market participants with a new way to capture benchmark Japanese equity exposure while minimizing FX risk. This is the first USD-denominated TOPIX futures contract, which complements the existing yen-denominated TOPIX contract and provides trading opportunities in different currencies. Achieve capital efficient exposure by saving on potential margin offsets against other Equity Index futures at CME Group. Traders can utilize the dynamic quanto spreading opportunities between the yen- and USD-denominated TOPIX contracts created by the JPY/USD exchange rate. Access trading through outrights electronically on CME Globex, capture the certainty of the close using Basis Trade at Index Close (BTIC), or bilaterally negotiate EFP transactions.

Learn more here:

• Landing page
• FAQ
• Fact card