CME Group premiers ETH futures options trading as the world braces for The Merge

Derivatives market Chicago Mercantile Trade Group (CME Group) introduced the launch of choices buying and selling for its Ether (ETH) futures merchandise Monday — the identical week because the anticipated Ethereum merge.

The launch of the brand new futures contract is “nicely timed,” CME Group world head of fairness and FX merchandise Tim McCourt said in a press release. He mentioned:

“As market individuals anticipate the upcoming Ethereum Merge, a probably game-changing replace of one of many largest cryptocurrency networks, curiosity in Ether derivatives is surging.”

CME Group, the world’s main derivatives market, announced its intention to launch futures choices Aug. 18. The contracts will ship one Ether futures at 50 ether per contract, based mostly on a reference price of the U.S. greenback value of ether up to date every day.

The brand new contracts be part of a lineup of current CME Group merchandise. The group launched the first Bitcoin futures contract in December 2017. Its Bitcoin (BTC) and ETH derivatives contracts saw record-high interest within the second quarter of this yr, regardless of the crypto winter.

Simply-In: CME Clears Regulatory Hurdle, Launches Ether (ETH) Choices Forward Merge
The world’s main derivatives market CME Group on Monday mentioned it has launched Ether (ETH) choices on futures. pic.twitter.com/Ul4GTZ39ao

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CME Group launched a BTC choices buying and selling product in January 2020. CME launched micro Ether futures contracts in December 2021 and in March 2022 launched choices contracts for its current micro BTC and ETH futures at 10% of the scale of the tokens. It also offers euro-denominated BTC and ETH futures.

Associated: The Merge: Top 5 misconceptions about the anticipated Ethereum upgrade

Ethereum builders have confirmed that the Ethereum blockchain is prepared for “The Merge,” throughout which it should transition from a Proof-of-Work to a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism. The Merge is predicted to happen Sept. 15.

On the time of writing, ETH is buying and selling at $1,715, down 3.23% in 24 hours and down 11.14% within the final month. Anticipation of The Merge and the discharge of August U.S. Shopper Value Index (CPI) information Sept. 15 might result in higher value instability.