CME launches single stock futures enabling investors to trade SpaceX, Micron and others 23 hours a day
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- CME Group launched cash-settled single-stock futures on 55 U.S. equities plus micro contracts on 22 names, trading Sunday evening through Friday afternoon on its Globex platform with a one-hour daily maintenance break
- SpaceX, Micron Technology, Nvidia, Tesla, and Apple anchor the initial lineup, with standard contracts representing 100 shares and micro contracts representing 10 shares
- Morgan Stanley's Michael Cyprys said retail brokers characterized the launch as "the year's largest retail growth catalyst," with 35-plus retail partners targeting day-one readiness
- CME is positioning the products as simpler than options — no time decay, no changing implied volatility, and lower capital requirements through margin trading, with contracts cash-settled at the stock's official closing price
- Exchange operators including CME have come under pressure this year from overseas perpetual futures, with Hyperliquid offering SpaceX perps ahead of the company's official IPO
- Kalshi and Coinbase received CFTC approval this year to offer crypto "perps," a move analysts see as foreshadowing broader U.S. approval of equity perpetual futures
Why it matters: Retail traders gain 23-hour leveraged access to marquee names like SpaceX and Nvidia through 35-plus retail broker partners on day one. But the launch reads as partly defensive — overseas platforms like Hyperliquid were already letting retail bet on SpaceX pre-IPO, and CFTC greenlights for Kalshi and Coinbase's crypto perps signal that U.S.-approved equity perps may follow.
