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CME Group is to launch what it says are the world’s first baseball futures on 12 October, pending regulatory review. The contracts will track CME FutureSports Performance Indexes (CME FSPI), which include statistics on the 30 professional baseball teams. They will begin with the 2026 Postseason and the four clubs in the League Championship Series.
CME Group is the derivatives exchange operator behind benchmark futures across interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, cryptocurrencies, energy, agricultural products and metals. The baseball contracts extend that range into sports statistics, using a futures structure in which participants take positions on the level of an underlying index.
Tim McCourt, Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Equities, FX and Alternative Products, CME Group
Tim McCourt, Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Equities, FX and Alternative Products, CME Group, commented on the launch:
“CME Group provides price discovery and risk management across every major investable asset class, and we see an opportunity to bring investing and hedging discipline to the business of professional baseball. The innovative contracts we’re developing with FutureSports will be built on robust indexes using Official League Data, with the transparency and integrity that only regulated exchange-traded products deliver.”
CME Group Baseball futures will be offered in two sizes. Standard contracts are valued at 10x the underlying CME FSPI MLB indexes, while micro contracts are 1/10 the value of those indexes. Participants can trade live around the clock, with positions taken on a regulated exchange with central clearing safeguards, transparent pricing and equal market access.
The CME FSPI structure official sports statistics into rules-based, benchmark financial metrics. Index performance is calculated using systematic methodologies in which point allocations follow transparent statistical frameworks, adding points for positive actions and subtracting them for negative plays or setbacks.
The CME FSPI methodologies align with the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) Principles for Financial Benchmarks and are supported by published governance and oversight procedures. CME Group Baseball futures are listed on, and subject to the rules of, CME.
CME Group is the world’s leading derivatives marketplace, enabling clients to trade futures, options, cash and OTC markets, optimise portfolios and analyse data. 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. It also operates CME Clearing, one of the world’s leading central counterparty clearing providers.
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