CME to launch options contracts on Solana, XRP futures

[CME Group logo sign on the building in Chicago, Illinois, USA.]
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CME Group (NASDAQ:CME [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CME]) is planning to roll out [https://seekingalpha.com/pr/20235858-cme-group-to-launch-options-on-solana-and-xrp-futures] options contracts on Solana (SOL-USD [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/SOL-USD]) and XRP (XRP-USD [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/XRP-USD]) futures, building on "the significant growth and increasing liquidity we have seen across our suite of Solana and XRP futures," said Giovanni Vicioso, the derivatives exchange's global head of Cryptocurrency Products, in a statement Wednesday.

The new products will let clients trade options on SOL, Micro SOL, XRP, and Micro XRP futures, with expiries available every day of the business week, every month and every quarter.

The contracts are set to launch Oct. 13, pending regulatory review.

"Available in two different sizes, these contracts will offer a wide range of market participants – from institutions to sophisticated, active, individual traders – additional choice and greater flexibility to manage their exposure to two market-leading cryptocurrencies," Vicioso added.

The move comes as CME's (NASDAQ:CME [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CME]) suite of SOL and XRP futures have become popular products, with more than 540K SOL futures contracts ($22.3B in notional having traded since the Match 17 launch, and over 370K XRP futures contracts ($16.2B in notional) having traded since launch on May 19.

Last week, rival Cboe Global Markets (CBOE [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/CBOE]) laid out plans [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4493405-cboe-to-launch-cboe-continuous-futures-for-bitcoin-ether] to launch continuous futures for bitcoin (BTC-USD [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/BTC-USD]) and ether (ETH-USD [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/ETH-USD]) on its futures exchange.

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