CME Group Shakes Crypto Markets: Cardano, Chainlink, and Stellar Futures Launch February 9
The institutional gates are swinging open—again. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the world's largest financial derivatives marketplace, is adding three heavyweight crypto contenders to its futures roster. Forget the old guard; the new targets are Cardano, Chainlink, and Stellar.
Why This Move Matters
It's not just another product launch. When CME lists an asset, it sends a seismic signal through traditional finance corridors. It means regulated, large-scale money—the kind that moves markets—is getting comfortable with these protocols. This isn't about retail hype; it's about balance sheets and hedging strategies. For the crypto natives, it's a brutal validation: survive the bear market, earn a ticker on the big board.
The Institutional On-Ramp Expands
CME didn't become a trillion-dollar venue by chasing memes. Its existing Bitcoin and Ethereum futures are liquidity monsters, forming the backbone of countless ETF strategies. Adding ADA, LINK, and XLM builds a broader, deeper pipeline. Traders can now construct sophisticated cross-asset plays and macro hedges within a single, trusted clearinghouse. It turns speculative tokens into legitimate financial instruments—for better or worse.
A Cynical Take from the Floor
Let's be real: Wall Street loves a new product to sell. More futures mean more commissions, more margin interest, and fresh narratives for client pitches. The same firms that once called crypto a 'fraud' are now quietly building the infrastructure to profit from its volatility. The irony is thicker than a legacy bank's quarterly report.
The Bottom Line
February 9 marks a pivot. Cardano's proof-of-stake rigor, Chainlink's oracle dominance, and Stellar's cross-border rails—each gets a stamp of approval from the old financial regime. This launch pulls crypto further from the fringe and locks it into the global capital markets engine. Love it or hate it, the assimilation is accelerating. The trading desks are ready; the question is whether the underlying networks are prepared for the blinding spotlight—and the ruthless efficiency—of institutional capital.
CME launches more products after a 139% year-over-year surge
Products will be cash-settled and traded on CME’s regulated futures platform. The three assets are an addition to CME’s crypto product lineup, which features Bitcoin futures that launched in December 2017, followed by Ether futures in February 2021, XRP, and Solana, and its added options launched late last year, as documented by Cryptopolitan.
Giovanni Vicioso, CME Group Global Head of crypto products, stated:
“Given crypto’s record growth over the last year, clients are looking for trusted, regulated products to manage price risk as well as additional tools to gain exposure to this dynamic market […] With these new micro- and larger-size Cardano, Chainlink, and Stellar futures contracts, market participants will now have greater choice with enhanced flexibility and more capital efficiencies.”
Trading activity in 2025 reached record levels across the company’s crypto markets. Average daily trading volume for futures and options combined ROSE 139% year-over-year with 278,300 contracts, representing about $12 billion in notional value. At the same time, average open interest climbed to a record 313,900 contracts, which is equal to $26.4 billion in notional terms.
Futures contracts accounted for the bulk of this activity. Futures average daily volume hit a record 272,200 contracts, with a notional value of $11.7 billion. Average open interest in futures also reached a new high of 253,600 contracts, representing $21.4 billion in notional value.
Options trading, while smaller in scale, also set records. Average daily volume for options reached 4,100 contracts, or $231 million in notional value. There were an average of 60,400 open interest contracts in options, which were worth about $5 billion.
In 2025, the crypto derivatives market had a total volume of around $86 trillion. According to a CoinGlass report, the average daily turnover is almost $265 billion. CME cemented its position as the leader in BTC derivatives, overtaking Binance in futures open interest for long periods of time as institutions preferred regulated venues for hedging and basis trading.
CME Group to Launch 100-Ounce Silver Futures
Besides the crypto derivatives, CME Group announced it will launch a 100-Ounce Silver futures contract on the same February 9. They will be financially settled based on the daily settlement price of the global benchmark Silver futures contract and will be listed by and subject to the rules of COMEX.
Jin Hennig, Managing Director and Global Head of Metals at CME Group stated, “Silver is increasingly appealing to retail traders looking to diversify their exposure across a wider range of metals in the face of geopolitical uncertainty and the energy transition […] 100-Ounce Silver futures will improve access to a wider range of participants, enabling them to benefit from the liquidity and efficiencies that our futures markets provide.”
According to the company, the growing retail demand for CME Group’s metal futures drove record trading volumes in 2025. It was a record year for trading both Micro Gold futures (301K ADV) and Micro Silver futures (48K ADV). Clients traded over 6 million contracts in the 1-ounce Gold futures contract launched in January of last year.
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