CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today announced plans to launch XRP futures on May 19, pending regulatory review. Market participants will have the choice to trade both a micro-sized contract (2,500 XRP) and a larger-sized contract (50,000 XRP).
"As innovation in the digital asset landscape continues to evolve, market participants continue to look to regulated derivatives products to manage risks across a wider range of tokens," said Giovanni Vicioso, Global Head of Cryptocurrency Products at CME Group. "Interest in XRP and its underlying ledger (XRPL) has steadily increased as institutional and retail adoption for the network grows, and we are pleased to launch these new futures contracts to provide a capital-efficient toolset to support clients' investment and hedging strategies."
CME Group XRP futures will be cash-settled and based on the CME CF XRP-Dollar Reference Rate, which serves as a once-a-day reference rate of the U.S. dollar price of XRP and is calculated daily at 4:00 p.m. London time.
XRP futures will join the company's crypto product suite that includes Bitcoin and Ether futures and options, as well as recently launched SOL futures. Q1 trading highlights for crypto futures and options on futures include:
Average daily volume of 198,000 contracts ($11.3 billion in notional), up 141% year-over-year
Average open interest of 251,000 contracts ($ 21.8 billion in notional), up 83% year-over-year
Additionally, more than 43,000 SOL futures ($705 million in notional) have traded since launch on March 17
"Bringing CME Group XRP futures to Robinhood is a natural next step in our mission to expand retail access to futures trading," said JB Mackenzie, VP and GM of Futures and International at Robinhood. "Our customers have shown a deep interest in digital assets, and they will soon be able to access an even wider variety of crypto futures to complement Robinhood's existing spot crypto offerings. Soon, customers will be able to trade 40 futures products on Robinhood using our one-of-a-kind mobile trading ladder, giving them the speed and precision typically reserved for institutional traders."
"XRP was purpose-built for real financial use cases and today facilitates global value transfers through the fast, low-cost XRP Ledger," said Sal Gilbertie, CEO of Teucrium. "The Teucrium 2x Daily Long XRP ETF (XXRP), reached $35 million in AUM in its first 10 trading days — highlighting strong investor demand for regulated access to leading digital assets. The listing of regulated XRP futures by CME Group marks another milestone in the ecosystem's evolution, and we intend to be active participants in supporting that growth."