The Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group, one of the world’s leading and most diverse derivatives markets, announced today that it will launch micro-Ether futures on December 6 to expand its crypto derivatives products.

Micro-Ether futures are only one-tenth the size of Ether, and will provide a range of market participants (from institutions to mature and active individual traders) with an efficient and economical way to hedge their Ether spot Price risk or more flexible implementation of Ethereum trading strategies, while retaining the features and advantages of CME Group’s large-scale ether futures.

Micro-Ether Futures will join CME Group’s growing suite of cryptocurrency derivatives, including the recently launched Micro Bitcoin Futures Since their launch in May, their trading volume has exceeded 2.7 million contracts.

To date, more than 675,500 Ether futures contracts (equivalent to approximately 33.8 million ETH) have been traded.The new contract will be settled in cash, based on CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate, As the daily reference exchange rate for the price of Ether in USD.

“Since the launch of ether futures in February, we have seen a steady increase in the liquidity of these contracts, especially among institutional traders,” said Tim McCourt, global head of CME Group Stock Index and Alternative Investment Products. “At the same time, the price of Ether has more than doubled since the launch of these contracts, creating a demand for micro-contracts, thus making it easier for a wider range of participants to enter the market. Commodities provide more choices and accuracy for trading Ethereum futures in a transparent, standardized and efficient manner.”

For more information about MicroEther Futures (MET), click here.