International derivatives marketplace CME Group today announced that it will expand its benchmark interest rates offering with the launch of U.S. Treasury Bill (T-Bill) futures on October 2, pending regulatory review.

The new T-Bill futures contract will begin trading amid record demand for CME Group U.S. Treasury futures, with open interest reaching 19,814,295 contracts for the first time on August 23.

“As we continue to see record risk transfer in the U.S. Treasury market, our new T-Bill futures will enable clients to hedge exposure to short-term debt with the same value proposition offered across our U.S. Treasury and SOFR complexes,” said Agha Mirza, CME Group Global Head of Rates and OTC Products. “With open interest approaching an unprecedented 20 million contracts, we are also seeing a record number of large open interest holders in U.S. Treasury futures, which advances efficiencies, deep liquidity and a share of volume that exceeds associated cash markets.”

Adding to the CME Group short-term interest rate (STIR) product portfolio, T-Bill futures will be cash-settled and based on the 13-week U.S. Treasury Bill auction discount yield.

T-Bill futures will receive automatic margin offsets against existing CME Group Interest Rate futures upon launch and will be listed with, and subject to, the rules of CME. Additionally, these contracts will become eligible for portfolio margining against other cleared interest rate swaps and futures shortly after launch.

Open interest in the company’s current suite of deeply liquid U.S. Treasury futures has grown to $2.4 trillion in 2023, an increase of 49% year-over-year, with a record average daily volume of 5.2 million contracts.