Hassan Maishera
TL;DR
- CME has added AVAX and SUI to its futures product suite.
- The financial institution added Chainlink's LINK to its suite a month ago.
CME Group Expands Crypto Futures Offering with Avalanche (AVAX) and Sui (SUI) Contracts
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Group announced on Tuesday that it will launch futures contracts for Avalanche (AVAX) and Sui (SUI) in May, marking an expansion of its crypto derivatives offerings beyond Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and other Layer-1 assets.
Pending regulatory approval, the contracts are set to debut on May 4, with both standard and micro-sized options available to cater to a wider range of market participants.
According to CME, the standard Avalanche futures contract will represent 5,000 AVAX per contract, while the micro version will cover 500 AVAX.
For Sui, the standard futures will cover 50,000 SUI, with the micro contracts set at 5,000 SUI. The financial institution explained that this dual structure will improve capital efficiency and accessibility for both institutional and smaller traders.
While commenting on this latest development, CME Group's Global Head of Cryptocurrency Products, Giovanni Vicioso, said,
"Our new micro- and larger-sized Avalanche and Sui futures will provide clients with greater choice, enhanced flexibility, and more capital efficiencies across our deeply liquid, regulated crypto derivatives complex."
This latest development comes roughly a month after Chainlink announced that LINK futures had launched on CME Group, the world’s largest CFTC-regulated derivatives exchange.
The expansion comes on the back of a strong growth trend for CME’s crypto futures. Average daily trading volume across its crypto products increased by 19% year-over-year in March, hitting nearly $8 billion in notional value. This surge underscores the ongoing institutional demand for the exchange’s crypto derivatives.
These new contracts build on CME's recent introduction of futures for other popular crypto assets like Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK), and Stellar (XLM).
Additionally, CME revealed plans to offer round-the-clock trading for its crypto futures and options suite starting May 29, with contracts to trade continuously on CME Globex, except during a brief weekly maintenance window.
Avalanche’s AVAX is up by nearly 10% in the last 24 hours, while SUI is now up by 10.7% during that period.
