CME is letting traders bet on bitcoin volatility, not price, and two firms have already placed bets

Markets Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email CME is letting traders bet on bitcoin volatility, not price, and two firms have already placed bets Monarq and DV Chain kick off trading in CME's bitcoin volatility index futures. By Omkar Godbole | Edited by Shaurya Malwa Jun 8, 2026, 8:19 a.m. 2 min read Make preferred on CME's bitcoin volatility futures go live. (CoinDesk Archives) What to know : CME Group has launched bitcoin volatility index futures tied to the CME CF Bitcoin Volatility Index, allowing traders to speculate directly on expected four-week BTC price swings. Monarq and DV Chain executed first block trades last week. The new contracts let investors trade and hedge volatility itself, rather than bitcoin’s price direction, enabling strategies around events such as U.S. inflation data releases. In this article BTC BTC $ 62,945.93 ◢ 1.36 % CME’s bitcoin BTC $ 62,945.93 volatility index futures began trading last week, offering investors a new way to trade and hedge price volatility. DV Chain and Monarq Asset Management executed the first block trades, kicking off trading in the contracts. These volatility contracts track the CME CF Bitcoin Volatility Index (BVX), which represents the market's expectations for bitcoin volatility over four weeks. Their debut allows traders to take positions directly on expected price turbulence rather than just price direction. That distinction matters because most derivatives, including futures, perpetual futures and options, require a view on where price is going. Volatility futures eliminate that complexity, letting traders express a view purely on how BTC will move in either direction. That opens the door to a new set of hedging and portfolio strategies that were previously difficult to execute on regulated venues. Think of positioning for how much bitcoin might move around events like this week's U.S. inflation data – traders can go long or short volatility depending on their outlook. Shiliang Tang, CEO of Monarq, called the launch a positive step in broadening regulated volatility offerings. "As bitcoin continues to mature into a more mainstream institutional asset class, the demand for sophisticated risk management instruments grows alongside it. Robust tools like CME Group Bitcoin Volatility futures are exactly what investors need to accurately express their market viewpoints and efficiently hedge their portfolios within a secure, transparent framework," he said in the press announcement. Monarq Asset Management is a institutional-focused quantitative and systematic digital asset investment firm managed by former executives from firms such as LedgerPrime, Tower Research, and BlockTower Capital. DV Chain is a liquidity and market-making service provider. The launch of volatility futures expands CME's existing product suite comprising bitcoin and ether standard and micro futures and options contracts. The platform's crypto derivatives business has reached roughly 266,900 contracts year-to-date, up 38% year-on-year, while average daily open interest stands at roughly 274,500 contracts, up 18%. Bitcoin News Volatility More For You Zcash bounces 45% as developers propose new Ironwood upgrade By Shaurya Malwa | Edited by Omkar Godbole 9 minutes ago The plan would let anyone verify that no counterfeit coins are circulating, addressing the patched bug that triggered last week's crash. ZEC is still down about 22% on the week. What to know : Zcash has rebounded about 45% from last week’s low after developers proposed a fix for a critical counterfeiting bug in its privacy-focused Orchard pool. The Ironwood proposal would move users to a new, repaired privacy pool and let anyone running Zcash software verify that no more than the correct amount... Read full story Latest Crypto News Zcash bounces 45% as developers propose new Ironwood upgrade 9 minutes ago XRP steadies above $1.10 to bounce from four-month lows 2 hours ago Bitcoin pump to $63,700 triggers the most short liquidations since late April 2 hours ago Bitcoin spikes, then dumps, from $63,700 as analysts assess Strategy's next BTC moves 3 hours ago Bitcoin falls back below $63,000 as Iran-Israel trade strikes and Korean stocks crash 3 hours ago A quick review of the Ways and Means tax bills: State of Crypto 11 hours ago Top Stories Michael Saylor revives bitcoin-buy speculation as scrutiny over Strategy grows 14 hours ago Bitcoin near $60,000 today vs February: Institutional sentiment has flipped 16 hours ago America’s largest banks are building a new digital currency network to stop a massive deposit drain Jun 6, 2026 Satoshi-era bitcoin at center of $285 billion lawsuit moves after 14 years Jun 6, 2026 A massive hiring wave reveals trading firms are no longer viewing Polymarket as a niche betting tool Jun 6, 2026 Why diehard bitcoin purists aren’t sweating the massive price crash that wiped out $200 billion Jun 5, 2026 In this article BTC BTC $ 62,945.93 ◢ 1.36 %