CHICAGO, May 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced it will expand its suite of micro-sized futures contracts with the introduction of Micro WTI futures. The contracts are expected to launch on July 12, pending regulatory review.

Micro WTI futures will be one-tenth the size of the company's global benchmark WTI Crude Oil futures contract and cash-settled. They will enable market participants – from institutions to sophisticated, active, individual traders – to fine-tune exposure to crude oil markets and enhance their trading strategies in an efficient, cost-effective way.

"As U.S. crude continues to gain global significance, we are seeing increasing demand for tools that help a broader range of clients access these markets," said Peter Keavey, Global Head of Energy Products at CME Group. "WTI futures have always been a top product for active traders around the world, and the smaller size of Micro WTI futures will offer more flexibility and greater precision to market users – all while enabling them to benefit from the transparency and liquidity of the world's most robust crude oil contract."

"Interactive Brokers' advantage has always been our low cost, advanced technology, and breadth of products offered," said Steve Sanders, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Product Development at Interactive Brokers. "We are excited to add Micro WTI futures to our product roster, which will allow more of our sophisticated individual investor and active trader clients to participate in the global oil markets."

"We continue to see demand from retail active traders for micro sized futures products like this that provide access to attractive markets with greater flexibility and efficiency," said J.B. Mackenzie, Managing Director at TD Ameritrade Futures and Forex, LLC. "The launch of Micro WTI futures brings the crude oil markets to our clients in a more cost-effective way and is one more tool to help our clients diversify their exposure and hone their trading strategies."

"As a growing audience of self-directed investors and traders continues to gravitate to the futures markets, we are excited to introduce the new Micro WTI Crude Oil contracts to the NinjaTrader user community," said Martin Franchi, CEO of NinjaTrader Group, LLC. "The smaller contract size available through this product innovation will significantly increase accessibility for more traders to this dynamic market and the opportunities available through futures."

"TradeStation Securities, Inc. is proud to continue our strong relationship with CME through the launch of Micro Crude Oil Futures. As a platform for retail and institutional investors, we're excited to offer our clients access to U.S. crude at a lower barrier of entry," said John Bartleman, President of TradeStation Group, Inc., TradeStation's parent company. "As day-one supporters of this new product, we're continuing to prioritize our clients access to the latest Futures products and technology."

Micro WTI futures will be cash-settled based on the daily settlement price of NYMEX WTI futures. The contracts will be listed on and subject to the rules of NYMEX. For more information or for product specifications please see: https://cmegroup.com/micro-wti.

As the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) enables clients to trade futures, options, cash and OTC markets, optimize portfolios, and analyze data – empowering market participants worldwide to efficiently manage risk and capture opportunities. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural products and metals. The company offers futures and options on futures trading through the CME Globex® platform, fixed income trading via BrokerTec and foreign exchange trading on the EBS platform. In addition, it operates one of the world's leading central counterparty clearing providers, CME Clearing. With a range of pre- and post-trade products and services underpinning the entire lifecycle of a trade, CME Group also offers optimization and reconciliation services through TriOptima, and trade processing services through Traiana.

CME Group, the Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Globex, and, E-mini are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. CBOT and Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc. BrokerTec, EBS, TriOptima, and Traiana are trademarks of BrokerTec Europe LTD, EBS Group LTD, TriOptima AB, and Traiana, Inc., respectively. Dow Jones, Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and S&P are service and/or trademarks of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC, Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and S&P/Dow Jones Indices LLC, as the case may be, and have been licensed for use by Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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SOURCE CME Group

CME Group to Launch Micro WTI Futures on July 12