FalconX and GSR executed the first block trades in CME’s Bitcoin Cash and Uniswap futures, confirming institutional participation at launch. BCH and UNI had retreated substantially from their
FalconX and GSR have executed the first block trades in CME Group’s newly launched Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Uniswap (UNI) futures, providing an initial sign of institutional participation after both cryptocurrencies surrendered much of their September announcement-driven gains.
CME confirmed the transactions on October 20, one day after the contracts began trading. The exchange did not disclose the trades’ notional values, execution prices or resulting open interest.
The distinction matters. An inaugural block trade demonstrates that professional counterparties are willing to transact, but its size and pricing would be needed to assess how much liquidity the new markets can support.
Griffin Sears, Head of Derivatives at FalconX, confirmed that the firm executed the inaugural block trade alongside GSR.
Sears described institutional demand as extending beyond the largest cryptocurrencies into assets associated with payments and decentralized finance.
GSR CEO Xin Song separately identified derivatives liquidity provision as a core part of the firm’s business and said the company supported CME’s new markets from their first trading day.
Block trades allow eligible counterparties to negotiate large transactions privately before reporting them under exchange rules. For institutional participants, this can reduce the market impact associated with executing sizeable orders directly through an order book.
However, a negotiated transaction does not establish the depth available to other traders through CME Globex.
The contracts expand CME’s single-asset cryptocurrency futures lineup to 11 assets.
CME first announced the products on September 22, triggering a sharp reaction in the underlying tokens.
Historical market data showed Bitcoin Cash gaining approximately 29% on the announcement date, while Uniswap advanced about 14%.
By the October 19 launch, both had retreated from their announcement-day closing levels. Using the previously reported historical prices, BCH had fallen approximately 19% and UNI roughly 28%.
That divergence is relevant to traders evaluating the listing’s market impact.
The September price movement reflected expectations surrounding future access to regulated derivatives. The October transactions provide evidence of actual participation, although neither the initial rally nor the subsequent decline can be attributed exclusively to CME’s decision.
The first block trades also do not establish whether futures activity will generate persistent demand for the underlying tokens. Cash-settled futures can facilitate both long and short exposure without requiring delivery of BCH or UNI.
CME offers standard and Micro contracts for both cryptocurrencies:
CME GROUP · CRYPTO DERIVATIVES BCH & UNI Futures Contract Sizes Standard and Micro contracts · Launched October 19, 2026 BCH Bitcoin Cash Standard 250 BCH Contract size Micro 25 BCH 1/10 of standard UNI Uniswap Standard 10,000 UNI Contract size Micro 1,000 UNI 1/10 of standard How to read: Contract sizes represent underlying cryptocurrency quantities, not the margin required to open a position. All four futures are cash-settled. Source: CME Group, Official Crypto Futures SpecificationsThe Micro versions represent one-tenth of the standard contracts, allowing traders to adjust exposure in smaller increments.
Beyond directional trading, the contracts create another venue for evaluating the difference between spot and futures prices.
For a dated futures contract, a simplified annualized basis calculation is:
A futures premium of 1.5% with 30 days remaining to expiry implies an annualized basis of approximately 18.25%, before financing, margin, custody and execution costs.
This is an illustrative calculation, not an observed BCH or UNI trading yield.
The distinction from offshore perpetual futures is important. Perpetual contracts use recurring funding payments, while dated CME futures incorporate financing expectations into their price relative to spot.
A meaningful comparison with Binance or Bybit would require executable quotes, matching timestamps, relevant funding histories and transaction costs.
CME has not published sufficient contract-specific opening-session data to calculate a reliable realized basis for the new products.
The listings may also affect future exchange-traded product applications.
Under the SEC’s September 2025 generic listing standards, one eligibility route permits commodity-based exchange-traded products whose underlying assets have futures contracts available for trading on a CFTC-regulated designated contract market for at least six months.
For BCH and UNI, the October 19 launch establishes a potential starting point for that requirement.
Six months of uninterrupted availability would bring the relevant date to approximately April 19, 2027.
The rule also requires an appropriate surveillance-sharing arrangement with the designated contract market. Other listing, registration and disclosure requirements continue to apply.
Importantly, the six-month criterion is one of several eligibility routes. Meeting it does not automatically authorize a spot BCH or UNI ETF, nor does it mean issuers must necessarily wait until April if another permitted route applies.
The SEC’s approved exchange-rule framework provides the detailed conditions.
Alongside the first-trade announcement, CME released updated figures for its broader cryptocurrency derivatives business.
Year-to-date average daily volume exceeded 242,000 futures and options contracts, representing approximately $7.9 billion in notional value. Average daily open interest approached 240,000 contracts, equivalent to $14.3 billion.
Those figures differ from the first-half averages of $8.3 billion in daily notional volume and $15.4 billion in open interest reported in September because they cover different measurement periods.
CME also attributed nearly $2 billion in year-to-date notional value growth to its earlier 2026 expansion into Cardano, Chainlink, Stellar, Avalanche and Sui futures.
The updated figures establish the scale of CME’s existing cryptocurrency franchise, not the performance of its newly launched BCH and UNI products.
For those contracts, the first block trades establish an initial institutional foothold. Contract-specific turnover, open interest and executable futures premiums will provide a clearer measure of how that participation develops.
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