Trading of the Ether-to-Bitcoin ratio futures contract on CME‘s futures platform will begin on July 31. The move requires regulatory approval.
Efficiently capture the relative value of ether and bitcoin in a single trade with Ether/Bitcoin Ratio futures, launching July 31. https://t.co/WDFhIt5rJ7
— CME Group (@CMEGroup) June 29, 2023
The product will carry the ticker EBR. The platform will offer six monthly contracts as well as four quarterly contracts.
Investors can use the instrument to speculate on changes in the relative performance of the two assets or to hedge risk.
“Historically, Ethereum and Bitcoin have correlated strongly. Market dynamics can influence their price movements to varying degrees, creating opportunities to trade relative value,” explained Giovanni Visiozo, Global Head of CME Group’s Crypto Products.
CME expanded its product line of crypto-related derivatives in December 2017. The first was a Bitcoin futures contract, which gained traction among institutional investors. In February 2021 the platform added a derivative based on Ethereum.
According to Coinglass, CME ranks second in open interest (OI) for Bitcoin futures (97,540 BTC) and fifth for Ethereum futures (226,880 ETH).
As noted, in January 2020 the platform added options on digital gold to the listings. Similar instruments based on the second-largest cryptocurrency appeared on the exchange in September 2022.
In April 2023, trading volume and open interest in Ethereum options on CME reached record highs. The catalyst was the successful implementation of the Shapella hard fork.