CME Single Stock Futures Go Live With 77 Contracts

CME Group Brings Single Stock Futures to Globex Today

Today — July 27, 2026 — CME Group launches single stock futures, pending final regulatory approvals. Seventy-seven contracts out of the gate: 55 standard-sized and 22 micro-sized, covering more than 50 US companies pulled from the S&P 500, Nasdaq-100, and Russell 1000. Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Nvidia, Tesla, Micron, and the recently public SpaceX are all in the initial set.

• 77 contracts at launch: 55 standard (100-share multiplier), 22 micro (10-share multiplier)
• Trading on CME Globex nearly 23 hours a day, Sunday 5:00 p.m. to Friday 4:00 p.m. CT
• Cash-settled — no physical delivery, no assignment surprises
• Quarterly expirations (Mar/Jun/Sep/Dec), two nearest months, expiring the third Friday at 4:00 p.m. ET

If you have only ever traded shares and options, single stock futures might sound like an exotic corner of the market. They are actually one of the more straightforward instruments out there, and the micro sizing is what makes this launch relevant to regular traders rather than just institutional desks.

What Is a Single Stock Future, Plainly?

It is an agreement to settle the value of a stock at a set future date, traded on an exchange and cleared centrally. Buy one standard contract and you have economic exposure equivalent to 100 shares. Buy a micro and you have exposure equivalent to 10 shares.

The key practical difference from buying the stock: you post margin rather than the full notional value. And unlike options, there is no premium decay working against you and no strike price to pick — the contract simply tracks the underlying. Directional exposure, no theta, no volatility surface to reason about.

Why the Micro Contracts Matter Most

Here is the number that changes who can use these. A standard contract on a $200 stock represents $20,000 of notional exposure. The micro version represents $2,000. That is the difference between an instrument only a well-capitalized account can size properly and one where a retail trader can actually manage position size sensibly.

CME has run this playbook before with Micro E-mini index futures, and it worked — smaller contract sizes brought in traders who wanted futures mechanics without institutional-scale notional. Applying it to single names on day one, rather than years later, is the smart move.

What Do These Solve That Stocks and Options Do Not?

Tim McCourt, CME's Global Head of Equities, pointed at two specific frictions these instruments remove.

Short-sale restrictions. Shorting a stock means finding a borrow, which may be unavailable, expensive, or recalled at the worst possible moment. A single stock future has no borrow — you sell the contract. Going short is mechanically identical to going long.

Stock-lending fees. Hard-to-borrow names can carry meaningful borrow costs that quietly erode a short thesis. Futures sidestep that cost structure entirely.

There is a third that goes unmentioned in the press release but matters just as much: capital efficiency through margin. You control the same exposure with less capital tied up. That cuts both ways and deserves the emphasis — leverage magnifies losses exactly as efficiently as it magnifies gains, and a futures position moves against you in real cash rather than in unrealized paper.

The Contract Specs You Need

| Spec | Standard | Micro |

|---|---|---|

| Multiplier | 100 shares | 10 shares |

| Minimum tick | 0.01 points | 0.01 points |

| Tick value | $1.00 | $0.10 |

| Settlement | Cash | Cash |

| Expirations | Mar, Jun, Sep, Dec — two nearest | Same |

| Last trade | Third Friday, 4:00 p.m. ET | Same |

| Hours | Globex, Sun 5:00 p.m. – Fri 4:00 p.m. CT | Same |

Cash settlement is a genuine convenience. You never get assigned shares, never have to arrange delivery, and never have to manage an expiration where a position converts into stock you did not want.

What About Those Near-24-Hour Trading Hours?

Almost 23 hours a day, Sunday evening through Friday afternoon. If a company reports after the close or news breaks overnight, you can act rather than wait for the opening bell and take whatever gap the market hands you. That is the same appetite for extended-hours access driving venues like the one in London Stock Exchange Unveils LSE 24 Trading Venue — the difference being that CME's overnight liquidity infrastructure has existed for decades.

Who Is This Actually For?

Be honest with yourself here. Single stock futures are well suited to traders who want defined directional exposure with capital efficiency, who are comfortable with margin, and who understand that a futures position marks to market daily. They are a poor fit for buy-and-hold investors — there is no dividend, no voting right, and a quarterly roll to manage.

If you are building long-term positions, own the shares. If you want to hedge a concentrated position, express a short view without a borrow, or trade around an earnings event with tight capital, this is a genuinely useful new tool. And if you are newer to the mechanics, paper trade a micro contract through one full expiration cycle before committing real capital — the roll is where most people get surprised.

More market structure coverage in our stock trading section, including Texas Stock Exchange Goes Live, First in a Generation.

Sources: CME Group — June 30, 2026; Crowdfund Insider — July 2026; Yahoo Finance — July 2026.