CME Group plans to launch first ever exchange-traded precious metals spread and ratio futures contracts next month, the US exchange group said late Wednesday.
The three new contracts include Gold/Silver Ratio futures, Gold/Platinum Spread futures and Platinum/Palladium Spread futures and will begin trading on October 24, pending regulatory review, CME said.
"The introduction of these ratio and spread futures contracts respond directly to customer demand for new tools to more effectively manage the price relationships of our precious metals futures contracts, which are often used to manage portfolio risk," said Miguel Vias, CME Group head of precious metals, in a statement.
"These three new futures contracts will eliminate a great deal of complexity involved in price ratio and spread trading of precious metals and provide a broader subset of market participants the tools to offset macroeconomic risk," Vias added.
These contracts will be financially settled and build on CME Group's existing suite of precious metals products.
Gold/Silver Ratio futures will be 500 index points in size and reference the ratio of the COMEX gold and silver futures price for each day of the contract month.
Gold/Platinum Spread futures will be 100 oz in size and reference the difference between the COMEX gold and NYMEX platinum futures price for each business day of the contract month.
Platinum/Palladium Spread futures will be 100 oz in size and reference the difference between the NYMEX platinum and palladium futures price for each business day of the contract month.
Beginning with the December 2016 contract month, all three contracts will be available for trading electronically via CME Globex, as well as submission for clearing through CME ClearPort.
