Just In: CME Group To Offer Crypto Futures On Robinhood For US Retail Traders

CME Group has started rolling out futures contracts on Robinhood, giving US retail traders access to cryptocurrency and other asset classes.

CME Group Expansion of Futures Trading on Robinhood

CME Group and Robinhood Derivatives, LLC in a press release have revealed that retail traders based in the US will now be able to trade some of the most traded futures contracts. These include Bitcoin and Ether futures, futures on the major equity indices, foreign exchange, metals and commodities. The rollout has started and will continue over the course of the following weeks.

Julie Winkler, CCO at CME Group said, “We are happy to extend some of our most liquid futures contracts to the millions of retail traders on Robinhood.” She pointed out that the popularity of futures trading has risen among self-directed investors seeking diversified investment products.

Robinhood has recently launched a new mobile trading ladder with the view of making trading efficient and convenient. JB Mackenzie, Vice President and General Manager of Futures and International at Robinhood stated,

“This new experience along with the lowest fees in the market make trading futures at Robinhood simple.”

Introduction of Bitcoin Friday Futures Options

CME Group has also disclosed that it will begin offering options on its Bitcoin Friday futures on February 24, subject to regulatory approval. These options will be the first cryptocurrency options from CME that will be cash settled. Expirations will be available every business day from Monday through Friday.

Giovanni Vicioso, CME Group’s Global Head of Cryptocurrency Products, said that these new options will provide traders with an exact tool to deal with short-term Bitcoin price volatility.

”The size of these contracts, as well as daily expirations, provide market players with a capital-efficient set of instruments to manage their exposure to Bitcoin,” he said.

Bitcoin Friday futures have been CME Group’s most successful cryptocurrency product launch, with over 775,000 contracts traded since its launch on September 29. This can be seen from the fact that almost half of these trades occurred outside of US market hours, which indicates global interest.

CME Group’s Plans for Other Crypto Futures

Concurrently, CME Group is preparing to launch XRP and Solana futures on February 10, pending regulatory approval. The Solana futures contracts will include two offerings: SOL Futures, with a 500 SOL contract size, and Micro SOL Futures, with a 25 SOL contract size.

As with the previous contracts, the XRP Futures will have a contract size of 50,000 XRP, while the Micro XRP Futures will have a contract size of 2,500 XRP.

Market analysis has suggested that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may approve Solana and XRP ETFs this year as seen with the recent move by Cboe refiling SOL ETFs. If approved, the futures products that CME Group plans to introduce could help fill the gap in providing regulated access to digital assets.