New cash-settled futures allow leveraged bets on 55 U.S. equities outside regular market hours, including recent IPO SpaceX.
CME Group introduced cash-settled single-stock futures on 55 U.S. equities, including SpaceX, Micron, Nvidia, and Tesla, trading nearly 24 hours a day. The contracts, available on CME’s Globex platform, feature a one-hour daily maintenance break and are designed for leveraged long or short positions.
Standard contracts represent 100 shares, while micro contracts cover 10 shares. The launch targets retail investors, with over 35 retail brokers prepared for day-one trading. Unlike options, these futures avoid time decay and require less capital due to margin trading.
The products aim to capture demand for extended-hours trading, particularly around earnings and market-moving events. Final settlement is based on the underlying stock’s closing price.