Derivatives exchange operator CME Group announced on Tuesday that May was its biggest month on record for average daily volumes (ADV) in trading across options and futures contracts.
The Chicago-based company said that ADV hit 28.9m contracts last month. That was an 11% year-on-year increase.
Interestingly the increase was most notable in more speculative, retail-friendly products across indices and cryptocurrencies. Trading in Micro E-mini Nasdaq 100 futures was up 37% compared to May of last year, with an ADV of 1.5m contracts traded.
Micro E-mini S&P 500 futures volume rose by 60% on the same basis, with 1.3m contracts traded on average per day.
The CME also noted that Micro E-mini Equity Index futures and options represented 45.3% of overall ADV in equity indices.
In the crypto markets, 90,000 Micro Ether futures contracts were traded last month. That was up a massive 235% on the same month last year. Micro Bitcoin futures ADV increased 95% to 65,000 contracts over the same time frame.
Micro gold futures also hit a record ADV high of 347,000.
Retail traders continue to speculate
Growth in those products indicates that the CME is having some success in promoting more retail friendly products to end clients.
Historically it has been harder for retail to trade futures contracts because of the larger margin requirements needed to open and maintain positions.
Micro contracts in indices, for example, are one tenth of the size of their e-mini counterparts. The result is that it can very cheap to open a position. For example, opening an intraday position on some micro futures can be $50.
The rise in demand for these products is something we’ve seen more over the last five years, with the rise of apps like Robinhood giving retail traders easier access to markets. It’s a trend we’ve also seen in India, which is now – in terms of number of contracts traded – the largest market in the world for options trading.
CME and other exchanges have been active in promoting this too. For example, in February, the exchange launched a futures trading contest with TradingView.
