Starting May 29, CME Group launched 24/7 trading for crypto futures and options on Globex, bringing the trading hours of traditional regulated markets closer to the 24-hour rhythm of crypto assets. The new arrangement covers XRP, Bitcoin, and Ethereum, and expands to assets such as Solana, Cardano, Chainlink, Stellar, Avalanche, and Sui.
Trading hours are open almost all week.
According to CME's schedule, crypto derivatives will enter continuous trading mode starting at 4 pm on Friday. Except for a system maintenance window of at least two hours on weekends, they will be open for most of the time.
This means that institutional investors can hedge, adjust positions, and manage risks on weekends and holidays without having to wait for traditional markets to resume trading to deal with position fluctuations.
However, transactions completed over the weekend and holidays will still be cleared, settled, and reported on the next business day. CME has maintained its original back-office processing pace while extending front-end trading hours to nearly 24/7.
Coverage expanded to include more tokens
This adjustment involves more than just Bitcoin and Ethereum. CME is also adding more mainstream tokens to its continuous trading range, including XRP, ADA, LINK, XLM, AVAX, and SUI.
From a product structure perspective, this reflects that institutional demand for crypto derivatives is gradually expanding from the two major cryptocurrencies to assets related to payments, cross-chain interoperability, and smart contract ecosystems. For regulated platforms, increasing the number of tradable assets also helps improve liquidity continuity across different regions and time periods.
- XRP futures have a notional trading volume of $62.87 billion over the past year.
- The notional trading volume of crypto futures and options is projected to reach approximately $3 trillion by 2025.
- Keep the system maintenance window open for at least two hours on weekends.
CME says institutional demand continues to rise.
Tim McCourt, CME’s global head of equities, foreign exchange and alternative products, previously stated that client demand for crypto risk management tools has risen to a high level, driving the continued expansion of related futures and options trading volume.
Against this backdrop, 24-hour trading directly addresses the issue of institutional investors being exposed to risk outside of trading hours. Macroeconomic news or sudden crypto events often cause volatility when traditional markets are closed; with extended trading hours, institutions can complete hedging and position adjustments more quickly.
For the market, this change could also reduce price gaps between weekends and weekdays, improve the continuity of cross-time zone trading, and bring price discovery in regulated markets closer to the rhythm of on-chain and spot markets.
