CME is adding Bitcoin volatility futures as BTC▼$62,835.00 price holds above $81,000, turning crypto’s messiest risk into a more Wall Street-style trade.
The world’s biggest derivatives marketplace, CME Group, is preparing to give traders a cleaner way to trade Bitcoin‘s chaos.
In a Tuesday press release, May 5, CME said it plans to launch Bitcoin Volatility futures on June 1, pending regulatory review, adding a product that tracks expected BTC price swings rather than Bitcoin’s actual price.
The contracts will settle to the CME CF Bitcoin Volatility Index, known as BVX, which measures 30-day forward-looking implied volatility using real-time CME Bitcoin options order books.
Read also: Colombia’s President Proposes Turning Caribbean Coast Into Bitcoin Mining Hub
Giovanni Vicioso, CME Group’s global head of cryptocurrency products, said in the press release that market participants “are seeking regulated products that provide opportunities to gain digital assets exposure when markets move.” He added:
“With our new Bitcoin volatility futures, traders will be able to invest or hedge against the future volatility of bitcoin, allowing them to access a critical new layer of risk management.”
CME is already one of the main places where traditional finance touches crypto without touching wallets, seed phrases or offshore exchanges. Its crypto lineup includes more than 20 futures and options products.
A New Way to Trade BTC Volatility
The new product lands after a busy first quarter for CME’s crypto desk. CME said average daily open interest across its crypto products reached 313,900 contracts in Q1, up 25% from a year earlier.
Bitcoin was still the main beast there as CME’s Bitcoin futures and options suite posted average daily volume of more than 168,000 contracts in Q1, with total notional volume of about $378.5 billion.
- For comparison, Ethereum followed with $154.7 billion, Solana with $20.5 billion and XRP▼$1.14 with $12.9 billion.
The exchange has also been pushing more retail-friendly crypto contracts. Its spot-quoted futures suite cleared more than 4.5 million contracts in Q1, while its Bitcoin spot-quoted contract had a notional size of about $675 as of March 31.
Non-Stop Crypto Futures and Options on CME
Commenting on the product’s launch, Morgan Stanley’s head of derivatives sales, David Schlageter, called the contracts “an important tool for market participants to better manage portfolio risk by directly trading volatility.”
Crypto is still small compared with CME’s interest rate, equity index and commodities empire, even though it’s no longer some weird corner of the building.
CME previously said crypto futures and options notional volume hit a record $3 trillion in 2025, and it’s also preparing 24/7 crypto futures and options trading from May 29, pending regulatory approval.
Read more: CME Launches Avalanche and Sui Futures Ahead of 24/7 Crypto Trading Expansion
