CME Says It Will Launch Bitcoin Options in January
Chicago exchange CME Group has announced it will launch options on its bitcoin futures contracts in mid-January.

Derivatives exchange CME Group has announced it will launch options on its bitcoin futures contracts in January.
In a notice on its website on Tuesday, the Chicago-based exchange said, as long as it gets the green light from regulators, the options will go live on Jan. 13, 2020.
In late October, the firm published details of the options product, saying each contract would be based on one bitcoin futures contract (comprising of five bitcoin). They will be quoted in U.S. dollars per bitcoin with a tick size of $25 (or $5 for reduced tick sizes), and will trade between 5:00 P.M. Central Time on Sundays to 4:00 P.M. Central Time Fridays.
In today's announcement, Tim McCourt, the exchange's global head of equity index and alternative investment products, said:
"Since the launch of our Bitcoin futures nearly two years ago, clients have expressed a growing interest in options as another way to hedge and trade in these markets. We have worked closely with clients and the industry to establish a robust and increasingly liquid underlying futures market here at CME Group, and we believe Bitcoin options will now offer our customers greater precision and flexibility to manage their risk."
Providing some data on the performance of its bitcoin futures contracts to date, CME said it's seen average daily volume of over 6,500 contracts so far in 2019, which equate to roughly 32,500 bitcoin. There are now more than 3,500 individual accounts registered for trading the products, and almost half of trading volume comes from outside the U.S.
Tim McCourt image via CoinDesk archives
Mehr für Sie
Exchange Review - March 2025

CoinDesk Data's monthly Exchange Review captures the key developments within the cryptocurrency exchange market. The report includes analyses that relate to exchange volumes, crypto derivatives trading, market segmentation by fees, fiat trading, and more.
Was Sie wissen sollten:
Trading activity softened in March as market uncertainty grew amid escalating tariff tensions between the U.S. and global trading partners. Centralized exchanges recorded their lowest combined trading volume since October, declining 6.24% to $6.79tn. This marked the third consecutive monthly decline across both market segments, with spot trading volume falling 14.1% to $1.98tn and derivatives trading slipping 2.56% to $4.81tn.
- Trading Volumes Decline for Third Consecutive Month: Combined spot and derivatives trading volume on centralized exchanges fell by 6.24% to $6.79tn in March 2025, reaching the lowest level since October. Both spot and derivatives markets recorded their third consecutive monthly decline, falling 14.1% and 2.56% to $1.98tn and $4.81tn respectively.
- Institutional Crypto Trading Volume on CME Falls 23.5%: In March, total derivatives trading volume on the CME exchange fell by 23.5% to $175bn, the lowest monthly volume since October 2024. CME's market share among derivatives exchanges dropped from 4.63% to 3.64%, suggesting declining institutional interest amid current macroeconomic conditions.
- Bybit Spot Market Share Slides in March: Spot trading volume on Bybit fell by 52.1% to $81.1bn in March, coinciding with decreased trading activity following the hack of the exchange's cold wallets in February. Bybit's spot market share dropped from 7.35% to 4.10%, its lowest since July 2023.
Mehr für Sie
This article is created to test tags being added to image overlays

Dek: This article is created to test tags being added to image overlays
Was Sie wissen sollten:
- Ethena's USDe becomes fifth stablecoin to surpass $10 billion market cap in just 609 days, while Tether's dominance continues to slip.