CME Group reports rise in single stock futures liquidity with 50K contracts traded

CME Group’s freshly minted single stock futures just crossed a notable threshold. Over 50,000 contracts changed hands in a single session, with the bulk of activity concentrated in Nvidia, Intel, and Amazon. For a product that only went live on July 27, that’s a surprisingly energetic start. Here’s the thing: the US tried single stock futures before. It didn’t go well. OneChicago, the previous venue for these instruments, shut down in 2020 because nobody showed up. CME is betting that this time, the conditions are different. What CME actually launched The product suite covers more than 50 major US equities, split across two tiers. There are 55 standard contracts, each representing 100 shares, and 22 micro contracts pegged to just 10 shares. The micro contracts are the interesting play here, essentially giving smaller traders a seat at the table without needing the capital to back a full-size position. Every contract is cash-settled at the underlying stock’s closing price. You never have to take delivery of actual shares. You just settle the difference in cash. Trading runs nearly 23 hours a day on CME’s Globex platform, interrupted only by a daily maintenance window. The lineup inc...