The CME Group, the world’s leading derivatives marketplace, has announced plans to introduce Bitcoin Friday Futures (BFF) on September 30, 2024, pending regulatory review. This new offering aims to provide a more accessible and flexible way for traders to gain exposure to Bitcoin.
Each BFF contract will represent 1/50 of a Bitcoin, significantly lowering the capital requirements for trading compared to existing BTC futures contracts. This smaller contract size is expected to attract a wider range of investors, including retail traders who may have been previously priced out of the market.
The BFF contracts will expire every Friday at 4 pm New York time and will be settled based on the CME CF Bitcoin Reference Rate New York Variant. This shorter-dated contract, expiring weekly, is designed to more closely track the spot price of BTC and help traders mitigate weekend price risks.
According to the CME Group, the BFF contracts will offer a precise and flexible way to trade BTC exposure in CFTC-regulated markets. Traders can use BFF to express both long and short views on Bitcoin’s price movements while enjoying lower capital requirements and potential margin offsets.
