CME Group to add ether/bitcoin ratio futures in July pending regulatory approval

The addition of the ratio futures is just the latest crypto-based move the derivatives marketplace has made this year

June 29, 2023 03:37 pm

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CME Group announced plans to launch ether and bitcoin ratio futures on July 31, so long as they get regulatory approval.

“Historically, ether and bitcoin have been highly correlated; however, as the two assets have grown over time, market dynamics may affect the performance of one more than the other, creating relative value trading opportunities,” said Giovanni Vicioso, CME Group’s global head of cryptocurrency products, said in a press release.

The futures will be cash-settled to the final settlement price of the CME’s ether futures and divided by the final settlement price of its bitcoin futures.

The listing cycle will be the same as CME’s bitcoin and ether futures contracts.

According to Vicioso, this means that “investors will be able to capture ether and bitcoin exposure in a single trade, without needing to take a directional view.”

XBTO’s Paul Eisma, head of options, said that “the launch of ether/bitcoin ratio futures completes the currency triangle allowing market makers such as XBTO the ability to arbitrage synthetically, for the first time, all three futures legs: the BTC/USD and ETH/USD dollar legs, and the ETH/BTC cross.”

CME has expanded its crypto offerings this year, announcing in April that it would be expanding expiries for options on both bitcoin and ether futures contracts, making them available Monday through Friday.

It announced that it would be adding bitcoin futures to its event contracts earlier this year, though it first listed bitcoin futures back in 2017.

In 2022, CME added ether options contracts, an add-on to its ether contracts which were first listed in 2021. It listed bitcoin futures way back in 2017.

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