The CME has also recognised the attraction of smaller contracts to some participants and has launched what it calls Forex E-micros.
For those who haven’t the time to watch: “Our new Forex E-micro futures contracts provide the opportunity for a broader universe of customers to mitigate their counterparty risk by trading FX in CME’s $100 billion-a-day global FX liquidity pool,” says Derek Sammann, the exchange’s global head of FX products. “Active individual traders looking to participate in the global FX market, or small businesses seeking a cost-effective hedging tool for their FX risk, can choose Forex E-micro futures as a versatile and accessible new resource to manage their exposure.”
The contracts, which will be listed at some stage this quarter, will be one-10th the size of the CME’s existing FX futures; initially, six currency pairs will be listed and they will be cash settled, as well as fungible with the exchange’s full-sized contracts. Sensibly, the CME will not quote them as inverses.
It is pleasing to see that exchanges have recognised the attraction of FX to a wider audience; however, much of that demand has been catered to by several alternative product providers for a number of years.