July 2022 | Crypto Insights

Although volatility has returned to the broader crypto market this year, CME Group’s Cryptocurrency product suite continues to be a haven of consistent liquidity, volume, and open interest (OI) for investors seeking to hedge their risk or gain exposure to the asset class.

Recent records

• Q2 was a record quarter in terms of average daily OI (106.2K contracts) and second best in terms of average daily volume (57.4K contracts) across all Cryptocurrency products.
• Ether futures (ETH) achieved a record ADV in Q2 of 6.6K contracts (+27% vs. Q1) while daily OI averaged 3.5K contracts. A record 26.5K contracts traded on June 15.
• During the week of June 21, CME Group's Cryptocurrency futures combined number of Large Open Interest Holders (LOIH)* reached a high of 404, signaling growing interest from institutional and large sophisticated investors.

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Basis Trade at Index Close (BTIC) is now available on Bitcoin, Micro Bitcoin, Ether, and Micro Ether futures against their respective CME CF Reference Rate published at 4:00 p.m. New York time.

The enhancement will enable market participants to better manage risk around the NAV calculation of North American Cryptocurrency ETFs by allowing them to trade Cryptocurrency futures at a spread or basis relative to their desired benchmark.

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• On April 25, CME Group, in partnership with CF Benchmarks, launched Reference Rates and Real-Time Indices on 11 more cryptocurrencies, including Solana and Cardano.
• Bitcoin-Euro and Ether-Euro Reference Rates and Real-Time Indices are also now live.

These new, non-tradable benchmarks provide price discovery and use the same methodology and criteria as other CME CF Cryptocurrency References Reference Rates and Real-Time Indices.

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Source: CME Group. Data as of June 30, 2022, unless otherwise specified.

*A Cryptocurrency futures LOIH is defined as any entity that holds at least 25 contracts of the respective futures.