Surge in Solana Futures Trading on CME: A 252% Increase in July

In July, the trading volume of Solana futures on the CME Group exchange reached $8.1 billion, representing a substantial increase of 252% compared to June, when it was $2.3 billion, according to The Block.

The open interest (OI) for SOL contracts surged by 203%, climbing from $132.3 million in June to $400.9 million in July.

CME introduced Solana futures in March of this year, offering these new tools in two different formats. Initially, Solana futures garnered little attention, with trading volume amounting to $12.3 million by the end of March, as reported by K33 Research. However, trading activity saw a dramatic increase in July, spurred by growing interest in potential ETFs based on the altcoin.

«When it comes to launching a Solana ETF, we’re one step closer,» noted Matthew Siegel, head of digital asset research at VanEck, when CME announced the launch of SOL futures.

On July 31, several firms, including VanEck, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Grayscale, CoinShares, Canary, and Bitwise submitted updated S-1 filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission. These asset managers have taken similar steps ahead of the SEC’s approval of ETFs based on Bitcoin and Ethereum, which has boosted investor optimism regarding the introduction of Solana ETFs.

In July, trading also commenced for the REX-Osprey SOL + Staking ETF (SSK), a fund that operates under the 1940 Act, unlike standard crypto ETFs, but directly invests in Solana while staking at least 50% of its assets.

«The listing of such an ETF enhances activity in the futures market as market makers utilize derivatives to hedge their positions,» explained Peter Chan, head of research at Presto.

Despite these record figures, Solana futures still lag considerably behind similar CME products for Bitcoin and Ethereum.

In July, the cumulative volume of contracts based on digital gold increased by 23%, reaching $275.3 billion. Meanwhile, the average open interest rose by 8.5% to $17.8 billion.

During the same period, trading volume for Ethereum futures jumped by 82%, totaling $118.1 billion, with average open interest climbing to $5.2 billion, a 75% increase.

It is worth noting that on June 4, trading commenced on the Moscow Exchange for futures contracts linked to BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF.