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CME Group, the company behind the world's largest financial derivatives exchange,&nbsp;plans to launch the Nasdaq CME Crypto Index futures, a cryptocurrency futures index featuring exposure to seven digital assets in a single contract, on June 8.
The new Nasdaq CME Crypto Index futures will track a market-cap weighted basket of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Solana (SOL), XRP (XRP), Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK) and Stellar (XLM), according to Thursday's <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cme-group-to-launch-nasdaq-cme-crypto-index-futures-302772026.html" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">announcement</a>.
The contracts will be offered in both standard and micro-sized versions and will settle in cash using the index’s reference price at expiration. Nasdaq and CME said the index is designed to measure the performance of the largest and most actively traded cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
The upcoming launch marks CME’s first market-cap weighted crypto futures product and comes as exchanges expand regulated derivatives offerings tied to a broader range of digital assets.
CME said average daily trading volume across its cryptocurrency derivatives products has risen 43% year-to-date amid growing institutional participation in regulated crypto markets.
Earlier this month, CME introduced <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/cme-group-to-launch-regulated-bitcoin-volatility-futures" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bitcoin volatility futures</a>, a regulated financial instrument tracking expected Bitcoin market volatility over a 30-day period.<img alt="Bitcoin CME futures chart. Source: TradingView" height="1403" src="https://s3-images.ctmedia.io/media/content/screenshot-2026-05-14-at-102536-am.png" width="2735">
Bitcoin CME futures price chart. Source: <a href="https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/CME-BTC1!/?timeframe=ALL" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">TradingView</a>
Related:&nbsp;<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/cme-group-launch-avalanche-sui-futures" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CME Group expands crypto futures with Avalanche and Sui contracts</a>
<h2 id="strong-crypto-derivatives-expand-beyond-bitcoin-and-ether-strong">Crypto derivatives expand beyond Bitcoin and Ether</h2>
Crypto exchanges and trading platforms are expanding derivatives offerings tied to a broader range of digital and traditional financial assets.
In February, Kraken began offering <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/kraken-launches-regulated-tokenized-equity-perpetual-futures-for-global-traders" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">perpetual contracts</a> for tokenized stocks and commodities, giving international users 24/7 access to leveraged exposure across traditional markets.
The following month,&nbsp;Coinbase&nbsp;<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/coinbase-expands-24-7-stock-derivatives-venue" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">launched perpetual futures</a> for US stocks and indexes for users outside the United States. The contracts offer leveraged, cash-settled exposure to assets including Nvidia (NVDA) and Apple (AAPL).
In April, Blockchain.com added <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/blockchain-com-brings-perpetual-futures-trading-to-self-custody-wallets-via-hyperliquid" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">perpetual futures trading</a> to its self-custody wallet through Hyperliquid (HYPE), allowing users to trade leveraged crypto positions directly, using self-custodial Bitcoin as collateral, removing the need to transfer the BTC to a centralized exchange.<img alt="CME and Nasdaq to launch crypto index futures featuring BTC, ETH, SOL and XRP" height="696" src="https://s3-images.ctmedia.io/media/content/screenshot-2026-05-14-at-15012-pm.png" width="1574">
Crypto perpetual futures volume from 2022 to 2026. Source: <a href="https://defillama.com/?tvl=false&amp;perpsVolume=true" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">DeFiLlama</a>
Prediction market platforms are also moving into crypto derivatives. Earlier this month, Kalshi was reported to be preparing a push into <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/kalshi-eyes-crypto-expansion-with-perpetual-futures-launch-report" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">crypto perpetual futures trading</a>, potentially expanding beyond event-based contracts into leveraged digital asset markets.
Still, most cryptocurrency perpetual futures products remain unavailable to retail users in the US, where much of the market has historically been pushed offshore due to uncertainty around regulation.
However, according to derivatives publication FOW, CFTC Chair Michael Selig <a href="https://www.fow.com/insights/cftc-to-allow-crypto-linked-perpetual-futures-soon" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">said</a> in March that the agency was working toward allowing “true perpetual futures” in the country within “the next month or so.”
Magazine: <a href="https://cointelegraph-magazine.com/etoro-founder-yoni-assia-bitcoin-four-year-cycle-theory-price-prediction-btc/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">eToro founder timed Bitcoin top perfectly due to belief in 4 year cycles </a>

CME and Nasdaq to launch crypto index futures featuring BTC, ETH, SOL and XRP

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