CME Group launches individual stock futures, allowing investors to trade Space X, Micron and other stocks 23 hours a day
CME Group on Monday launched cash-settled individual stock futures based on 55 U.S. stocks, as well as micro-contracts based on 22 stocks, marking the exchange's entry into a market designed to allow investors to trade leveraged long and short positions around the clock. The contracts trade on CME's Globex platform from Sunday evening to Friday afternoon, with a one-hour daily maintenance break, allowing investors to react to earnings reports and other market-moving events outside of regular U.S. stock market trading hours. The product lineup includes futures related to SpaceX, one of the most closely watched initial public offerings on Wall Street in recent times, as well as . A standard contract represents 100 shares of the underlying stock, while a micro contract represents 10 shares. “Retail brokers are describing the launch as the biggest retail growth catalyst of the year, with more than 35 retail partners setting targets for first day or first week readiness,” analyst Michael Cypress said in a note. The products are designed to provide a simpler way than options to express a bullish or bearish view, CME said. Unlike options, individual stock futures do not involve time decay or changes in implied volatility, and because they are traded on margin, only require a fraction of the capital required. These contracts are cash-settled, with final settlement based on the stock's official closing price at expiration. They do not represent ownership in the company. The exchange said it may expand the product lineup beyond the initial 55 stocks based on customer demand and its listing criteria. Exchange stocks like CME have been under pressure this year as the emergence of perpetual futures on overseas exchanges is seen as a growing threat to traditional trading operations, even though most are currently not legal in the United States. Kalshi and Coinbase received approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission this year to offer cryptocurrency-related “perpetual contracts,” futures contracts with no expiration dates. The regulatory move is seen as a harbinger of wider approval for such products in the equity space. Overseas stock perpetual contracts have gained traction ahead of SpaceX’s IPO, with international platforms such as Hyperliquid offering its perpetual futures before Elon Musk’s space company officially went public. Open a futures account on Sina's cooperative platform, safe, fast and guaranteed