CME Group and Nasdaq are launching a new set of crypto index futures, scheduled to begin trading on June 8, pending regulatory approval. These will be CME’s first market-cap weighted futures contracts in digital assets.
Rather than trading individual Bitcoin or Ether futures, institutional investors can now use a single contract tracking the seven largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. The basket currently includes Bitcoin, Ether, XRP, Solana, Cardano, Chainlink, and Stellar Lumens.
Giovanni Vicioso, who leads crypto products at CME, said demand for regulated crypto futures is on the rise. The exchange’s average daily trading volume hit 407,200 contracts in early 2026, a 46% jump from the prior year. Year-to-date volumes across the entire crypto suite are up 43%.
In 2025, CME’s crypto complex averaged 270,900 contracts per day, roughly $12 billion in notional value changing hands daily. That was a 132% surge from the year before. Last November, the exchange hit a single-day record of nearly 795,000 contracts.
Both micro-sized and large-sized contracts will be available. The contracts are financially settled, meaning no one takes delivery of crypto; they pay out in cash based on the Nasdaq CME Crypto Settlement Price Index at expiration.
Nasdaq stated the index was built to support transparent, governance-driven benchmarks for digital assets. CME has steadily added products tied to digital assets to capture demand, starting with Bitcoin futures in December 2017. Its product lineup now covers assets representing over 75% of the total crypto market cap.
Ether futures arrived in February 2021, XRP and Solana futures followed, and the exchange is set to begin 24/7 crypto trading on May 29, just days before the index futures debut.