CME sees volume of Micro E-mini Equity Index futures & options surpass 1bn contracts
International derivatives marketplace CME Group today announced that Micro E-mini Equity Index futures and options surpassed 1 billion contracts traded across all four indices on November 12.
Micro E-mini Equity Index futures became available for trading across four U.S. indices – S&P 500, Nasdaq-100, Russell 2000 and Dow Jones Industrial Average – in May of 2019, with Micro E-mini options available on Micro E-mini S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures contracts in August of 2020.
“At just two-and-a-half years old, Micro E-mini Equity Index futures and options have become among the most actively traded equity index products at CME Group, enabling clients to manage risk in our highly liquid markets,” said Tim McCourt, CME Group Global Head of Equity Index and Alternative Investment Products. “At one-tenth the size of our benchmark E-mini equity index contracts, these micro-sized futures also help traders to execute equity trading strategies more nimbly, scale index exposure up or down or hedge existing equity portfolio positions.”
At their launch in May 2019, Micro E-mini Equity Index futures contracts became one of the most successful new product launches in CME Group’s nearly 175-year history. Since then, due to the ongoing, strong support of clients, index partners, the broker and intermediary communities, these contracts continue their tremendous growth trajectory. Additional highlights include:
- Year one (May 2019 – April 2020) total volume of more than 214 million contracts
- Year two (May 2020 – April 2021) total volume of more than 527 million contracts
- Total average daily volume in 2021-to-date, through the end of October, is equivalent to 2,060,344 contracts traded each day
- 21% of volume occurring outside of U.S. trading hours
Earlier this month, CME announced that Micro WTI Crude Oil futures volume surpassed 5 million contracts on November 4, 2021. On the same day, Micro WTI Crude Oil futures reached a record 151,131 contracts traded, breaking its previous single day volume total of 100,725 contracts set on Wednesday, November 3, 2021.