CME Group reports MoM rise in FX, crypto volumes
CME Group (NASDAQ: CME), the holding company for CBOT, NYMEX, and COMEX exchanges, has just released its full-year, Q4 and December 2021 market statistics, which showed a solid performance across the group’s six product lines.
On an aggregated basis, CME’s ADV total futures and options reached a record 19.6 million contracts in 2021, up 3% for the year and 26% for the fourth quarter. Over a monthly basis, the figure was reported at 18 million contracts in December 2021, down from 23.1 million per day in November.
During December 2021, total FX volumes averaged 875,000 contracts per day, which represented a rise of 9.2 percent month-on-month from 801,000 contracts per day in the previous year.
Delving into details, trading volumes outside the United States increased 4% to 5.5 million contracts, including 5% growth in Asia, 5% in Latin America and 3% in the EMEA region.
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Moreover, the CME provided updated metrics about its cryptocurrency products. Bitcoin futures averaged 24,534 contracts in 2021, while micro contracts posted 24,534, including more than 2.5 million total contracts since their launch in May.
Micro Ether futures had an ADV of 9,492 contracts, having traded more than 208,000 total contracts since their December 6 launch.
The world’s largest derivatives marketplace went live last month with its second micro cryptocurrency product. Roughly nine months after the launch of its first Ether derivative product, CME Group has brought another level of diversification to cryptocurrency traders with a micro Ether futures contract.
Closely tied to its older brother, the smaller-sized contract is based on the same underlying reference index, the CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate, and is settled in cash. The micro Ether futures are priced off at that index which was developed in partnership with Crypto Facilities to provide real-time ether price in dollars. The index references pricing data using transactions and order book activity from several cryptocurrency exchanges, currently made up of Kraken and Bitstamp.
The micro contract has just 1/10 of the notional value of the original contract. CME’s mini futures on the No.2 cryptocurrency has been reviewed by regulators, and the exchange operator confirmed in December that the addition was cleared and became available for purchase.
CME Group enables investors to trade futures, options, cash and OTC markets, optimize portfolios, and analyze data. The company offers futures and options on futures trading through the CME Globex® platform, fixed income trading via BrokerTec and foreign exchange trading on the EBS platform.
