CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) expands its cryptocurrency derivatives offerings by adding Micro Ether futures on Dec. 6, pending regulatory review. Sized at 1/10th of one ether, Micro Ether futures are intended to provide a cost-effective way for a range of market participants to hedge spot ether price risk or execute other ether trading strategies while keeping the features of CME Group's (CME) larger-sized Ether futures. "Since the launch of Ether futures in February, we have seen steady growth in liquidity in these contracts, especially among institutional traders," said Tim McCourt, CME Group global head of Equity Index and Alternative Investment Products. The new contract will be cash-settled, based on the CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate, which serves as a once-a-day reference rate on the U.S. dollar price of ether. Ether (ETH-USD) trades up 2.1% at $4.44K in Tuesday morning trading. By comparison, Bitcoin (BTC-USD) is also up about the same percentage at $63.2K. Grayscale
