CME's first week of Ether futures trading sees $34 million in daily volumes

CME completed its first full week of ether futures trading last Friday, and it nearly sustained the volume of its opening day.

Over the course of the week, an average of 371 contracts was traded each day at 50 ETH per contract. That's about 18,600 ETH or $34 million. Monday's volume was 19,400 ETH or $33 million at the time.

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Source: The CME Group

The derivatives exchange announced it would launch cash-settled ether futures in mid-December. They began trading on Sunday evening, with the first contracts purchased at 6:00 PM ET on Feb. 7. Since then, CME has seen 121 unique, active accounts trading the offering.

In total, 1,856 contracts were traded last week, which comes out to about 92,800 ETH, roughly $160 million. A third of the week's volume came during non-U.S. trading hours, and 27% of volume came from outside the U.S.

The ether futures product joins CME's popular bitcoin futures product. Bitcoin futures saw nearly 1,000 contracts, approximately $100 million worth of bitcoin, traded on opening day.

About Author

Aislinn Keely is a reporter on The Block's policy team holding down the legal beat. She covers court decisions, bankruptcies, regulatory actions and other key moments in the legal sphere, putting them in context for the wider crypto industry. Before The Block, she lent her voice to the NPR affiliate WFUV and helmed Fordham University's student newspaper. Send tips or thoughts on all things policy and legal to [email protected] or follow her on Twitter for updates @AislinnKeely.