① CME Group has launched cash-settled single stock futures on 55 U.S. stocks and 22 mini futures, enabling nearly round-the-clock trading on the Globex electronic platform with leveraged long and short capabilities.
② CME stated that it may expand the stock futures coverage beyond the initial 55 stocks based on client demand and listing criteria in the future.

Financial Associated Press, July 28 (Editor Zhao Hao) Investors looking to bet on stocks like SpaceX and Micron Technology now have a new tool: single stock futures available for near 24-hour trading.

On Monday (July 27), the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group (CME Group) launched cash-settled single stock futures based on 55 U.S. stocks, alongside mini futures covering 22 stocks.

This marks the exchange's official entry into this market, allowing investors to engage in leveraged long or short trades around the clock via this product.

These futures will trade on CME's Globex electronic trading platform, operating from Sunday evening through Friday afternoon, with a daily one-hour maintenance pause.

This means investors can quickly respond to market-moving events, such as earnings releases, outside regular U.S. stock market hours.

The initial batch covers high-profile recent IPOs on Wall Street, including SpaceX, as well as popular stocks like Micron Technology, NVIDIA, Tesla, and Apple. The standard contract corresponds to 100 shares of the underlying stock, while the mini contract corresponds to 10 shares.

CME noted that compared to options, this product offers a simpler way for investors to express bullish or bearish views.

Unlike options, single stock futures do not suffer from time value decay or fluctuations in implied volatility. Additionally, due to margin trading, investors only need to commit a fraction of the capital to establish positions.

Morgan Stanley analyst Michael Cyprys wrote in a report: "Retail brokers have hailed the launch of this product as one of the biggest retail business growth catalysts this year, with over 35 retail partners planning to offer related services on day one or in the first week."

These contracts are cash-settled, with final settlement based on the official closing price of the stock at expiration. Investors will not gain equity in the related companies.

CME stated that it may expand the stock futures coverage beyond the initial 55 stocks based on client demand and listing criteria in the future.

This year, traditional exchanges like CME have seen stock pressure, partly due to the rise of "perpetual futures" on overseas trading platforms, which are viewed as a growing threat to conventional trading businesses, even though most of these products are not yet legally permitted in the U.S.

This year, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) approved Kalshi and Coinbase to launch cryptocurrency-related "perpetual contracts." These contracts have no expiration date and are seen as a signal that regulators may further relax rules, potentially allowing the development of equity-based perpetual futures.

Before SpaceX's IPO, the overseas equity perpetual futures market also attracted attention. For example, international trading platform Hyperliquid had already launched a perpetual futures product for SpaceX stock, enabling investors to trade its price fluctuations before the company's official listing.