CME Group is set to launch weekly futures contracts – called Bitcoin Friday futures (BFF) – on 30 September, pending a regulatory review.
Giovanni Vicioso
The move is set to leverage the opportunities of a Friday expiry which allows these contracts to closely track the spot price of bitcoin. In addition, the offering is set to help investors mitigate weekend price moves.
Giovanni Vicioso, global head of cryptocurrency products at CME Group, said: “With these weekly expiring smaller-sized contracts, investors of all sizes – from institutions to sophisticated, active retail traders – will be able to more accurately fine-tune their bitcoin exposure on a regulated exchange.
“By settling to the BRRNY, the benchmark used by leading spot bitcoin ETFs, traders will also benefit from growing liquidity and the ability to more efficiently capture market moves during US hours.”
The new weekly futures contracts are sized at one fiftieth of a bitcoin and will be cash settled to the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate New York Variant (BRRNY) at 4pm EDT every Friday.
According to CME Group, a new BFF contract will be listed every Thursday at 6pm EDT/EST for a Friday trade date. Market participants will be able to trade the nearest two Fridays at any given point.
“We are pleased to support CME Group’s launch of these new weekly expiring bitcoin futures contracts and further expand the low-cost products available to our clients,” asserted Steve Sanders, EVP of marketing and product development at Interactive Brokers.
“With a shorter duration and smaller-sized contract, Bitcoin Friday futures will offer our active trader and institutional investor clients a flexible and cost-effective new way to manage their bitcoin exposure in a transparent market.”