•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
CME Group said it plans to launch Bitcoin Volatility futures (BVI) on June 1, 2026, pending approval from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The contract is designed to give institutional traders a CFTC-regulated way to trade bitcoin’s expected price swings through implied volatility, separately from bitcoin’s price direction.
The futures will trade under the ticker BVI and will be cash-settled to the CME CF Bitcoin Volatility Index Settlement, known as BVXS, CME said. BVXS is based on a 30-day forward-looking implied volatility measure derived entirely from real-time order book data from CME bitcoin and Micro Bitcoin options, with no spot prices and no over-the-counter data.
Each contract is sized at $500 multiplied by the CME CF Bitcoin Volatility Index. Traders can take either long or short positions on volatility expectations. CME said this structure allows positions to profit if implied volatility rises ahead of events such as a halving, a regulatory decision, or a macro shock—without directional exposure to bitcoin’s price.
CME Global Head of Cryptocurrency Products Giovanni Vicioso said the product provides a new layer of risk management by enabling traders to invest in or hedge future bitcoin volatility.
CME said the BVI index is built on two indices. The BVI real-time index publishes once per second between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. CT on CME trading days, using a standard variance-swap pricing model applied to the full CME options order book.
For settlement, CME said the BVXS settlement rate averages six five-minute BVI partitions each day to produce a smooth, replicable final figure. The settlement calculation runs at 4:00 p.m. London time on each contract’s final settlement day. CME and CF Benchmarks launched the BVI index on April 9, 2024, with back-tested history available before that date.
CME said the index tracks on Bloomberg under the ticker BVX and is not published on weekends. The structure is intended to mirror how VIX futures work in equity markets, while the underlying instrument is bitcoin options liquidity on a CFTC-regulated venue.
CME said Basis Trade at Index Close functionality is available for the contracts, and they are block-eligible, features it described as standard for institutional-grade CME products. Trading is expected to occur on CME Globex.
CME said it entered crypto markets in 2017 with bitcoin futures, later adding micro bitcoin futures, options on those products, and ether-related contracts in subsequent years. The BVI futures would extend that suite by adding a volatility layer rather than another price-directional product.
As of the announcement, CME said there were no competing regulated bitcoin volatility futures on major U.S. exchanges. The product remains subject to CFTC review, and CME said no update on that review had emerged since it published its press materials.
David Schlageter of Morgan Stanley said the contract is an important tool for market participants to better manage portfolio risk by directly trading volatility.
Sui Chung, CEO of CF Benchmarks, described the contract as a milestone in bitcoin’s maturation as an asset class.
CME said institutions hedging bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) exposure or options books have had limited tools for pure volatility risk management in a regulated form, and that the contract is designed to fill that gap.
Premium gym chains are entering a “golden era” that is ending or already in decline, as rising operating costs collide with shifting consumer preferences toward more flexible, community-based ways to exercise. Long-term memberships are shrinking, margins are pressured by higher rents and facility expenses, and competition from smaller, more personalized…
