March Equity Index Product Review

*Through March 31, 2023

• Equity Index futures and options volume averaged 8.1 million contracts per day in March 2023, +13% vs. Feb-23
• Equity Index open interest averaged 10 million contracts per day for the month of March 2023, +5% vs. Feb-23

Bitcoin futures and options:  Institutional interest continued to increase throughout the month as investors sought regulated venues/products to hedge rising market volatility and manage risk/exposure. Futures trading in March averaged 12K (+8% vs. Feb-23) and open interest averaged 14K. Bitcoin options March ADV increased 98% month-over-month to 555 contracts; average OI was nearly 11K (+25% vs. Feb-23). A record 2,357 Bitcoin options contracts were traded on March 22, and OI reached a record 14.7K on March 31.

Micro Bitcoin futures: Launched in May 2021, Micro Bitcoin futures have traded over 8M contracts since. The futures are 1/10 of a Bitcoin and settled to the CF Bitcoin Reference Rate. March ADV was 12K (+11% vs. Jan-23) and OI averaged 12K (+2% vs. Feb-23).

Micro Bitcoin and Micro Ether options: CME Group introduced options on Micro Bitcoin futures and options on Micro Ether futures starting March 28. The options are right-sized at 1/10th of their respective tokens. Over 487K 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. Over 2.8M CME Ether futures contracts have traded since launch (equivalent to 141M Ether). March ADV was 5.8K and open interest averaged 4.2K..

Ether options: Launched September 12, Ether options offer another way to efficiently manage ether exposure at a 50x multiplier. Over 4.6K contracts have traded since launch, equivalent to nearly 232K ether and March open interested averaged 1.8K (+25% vs. Feb-23). Learn more about Ether options: 

• Landing page
• Fact card
• FAQ

Micro Ether futures: Launched December 2021, nearly 5.4M contracts have traded since launch. ADV in March was 8.7K and OI averaged 21.1K (+15% vs. Feb-23).  Sized at 1/10 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 five 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):

• Landing page
• Bitcoin Euro
• Ether Euro
• Cryptocurrency futures FAQ
• Fact Card

Micro E-mini futures: Over 2 billion Micro E-mini Equity Index futures contracts have traded since launch. Combined ADV in March was 2.8M (+8% vs. Feb-23). Now you can also trade Micro E-mini S&P MidCap 400 and SmallCap 600 futures, launched March 20. For more information on Micro E-mini futures, please visit the Micro futures 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 option counterpart in terms of volume contribution. Since launch, nearly 6.3M contracts have traded, March ADV was 17.8K (+7% vs. Jan-23).

Now enjoy greater precision and versatility in managing short-term exposure with the introduction of Micro E-mini S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday options launched February 13. These new contracts complement the existing Friday weekly, end-of-month options, and quarterly options on Micro E-mini S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures, and over 170K contracts have traded since launch.

• Landing page
• FAQ

E-mini S&P 500 (ES) option blocks: Participation in ES options blocks continues to grow, allowing market participants to execute large trades with greater efficiency. Over 29M ES options blocks have traded, with March ADV at 75K contracts (+3% vs. Feb-23).

NQ options became block eligible starting January 2022, with a minimum block threshold of 60 contracts. Nearly 20.3K 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 March was 6.2K (+22% vs. Feb-23) and OI averaged a record 305.5K (+18%% vs. Feb-23) for the month. Russell 2000 AIR TRF is starting to trade alongside Russell 2000 Dividend futures.

Dividend futures: Dividend futures combined March ADV at CME Group was 6.7K (+66% vs. Feb-23). S&P 500 Annual Dividend Index futures March ADV increased to 5.3K (+77% vs. Feb-23) and average OI was 188K. Nearly 40K contracts have traded since the launch of Annual Dividend Index futures on Nasdaq-100 and Russell 2000 in early 2022.

Equity Sector futures: CME Group Equity Sectors futures March ADV was a record of 34K (+200% vs. Feb-23) and a record average OI of 246K (+13% vs. Feb-23). The market has embraced Derived block functionality introduced last year, with over 178K contracts traded since launch across the various sector products. Equity Sectors open interest reached a record 321K contracts on March 13, surpassing the prior record of 241K on Sep. 13, 2021.

TOPIX futures: Launched November 21, USD-denominated TOPIX index futures provide market participants 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 Globex, capture the certainty of the close using Basis Trade at Index Close (BTIC), or bilaterally negotiate EFP transactions.

• FAQ
• Fact card
• Landing page