14 Dec 2021
CME’s ether futures now account for 10% of the OI in the ETH futures market
Ether futures see growing popularity on CME leading open interest to push above $1 billion on CME.
The open interest on ETH futures on CME has quietly surpassed $1 billion, with CME’s market shares in the ETH futures sitting at 10%. This is well below the +20% market share seen in the BTC futures market.The ETH growth on CME shows that it is demand among institutional investors seeking to get exposure to both ETH and BTC. The relatively low market share compared to the BTC futures is not surprising, given that the ETH futures have only been live since February this year. Further contributing to bitcoin's high open interest on CME is the recently launched ETFs. There have also been several attempts to launch ETH ETFs, but they've been withdrawn promptly. CME's ETH market relative infancy has likely caused the rapid withdrawals. Few papers on CME's impact on Ether's price discovery are available, and the market will need time to reach maturity and the same level of confidence as the BTC futures market on CME.The open interest on CME's ETH futures began accelerating in early October alongside bitcoin's growth but has since flattened out and declined amid ETHUSD weakness in recent weeks. CME's market share has remained stable at 10%, indicating a sustained institutional demand to trade ETH. The ETH basis on CME has been in line with the BTC basis on CME in the last months, suggesting a similar long/short demand on both assets.