Latest news with #ChicagoMercantileExchange
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Missouri probes false report about screwworm pest that hurt US cattle prices
June 6 (Reuters) - Missouri authorities are investigating a fake press release about the damaging livestock pest New World screwworm that sparked a selloff in U.S. cattle futures markets last week, the state's agriculture department said on Friday. U.S. agriculture officials and farmers are on high alert for screwworm as it has moved north in Mexico from Central America, arriving within about 700 miles (1,125 km) of the Texas border. The U.S. Department of Agriculture indefinitely halted U.S. cattle imports from Mexico last month in a bid to keep out the parasite, which eats livestock and other wild animals alive. Screwworm infestations can kill cattle if left untreated and make them susceptible to secondary infections. On May 27, a false press release, opens new tab was sent to a northwest Missouri radio station about screwworm, the Missouri Department of Agriculture said. A report on the radio station's website pressured Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures before being taken offline, livestock traders said. Live cattle futures fell nearly 2% before paring losses, as daily trading volumes in the market spiked 77% from a week earlier. The Missouri State Highway Patrol's Rural Crimes Investigative Unit, the Livestock and Farm Protection Task Force, and state attorney general are investigating the matter, Missouri's agriculture department said in a press release. State officials want to determine "if this was an act with malicious intent to cause panic in agricultural markets," the department added. U.S. cattle producers' group R-CALF USA last week asked, opens new tab the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates futures markets, to investigate. The commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and exchange operator CME Group (CME.O), opens new tab declined to comment.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CME's XRP Futures Have Pulled In Nearly $30M Since Debut, Fueling XRP ETF Hopes
XRP futures contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) recorded over $19 million in notional trading volume on their first day and at least $10 million on Tuesday, data shows. The inaugural trade, a block transaction, was cleared by Hidden Road on May 18. CME's XRP futures are available in two sizes: standard contracts representing 50,000 XRP and micro contracts representing 2,500 XRP. Both are cash-settled and benchmarked to the CME CF XRP-Dollar Reference Rate, calculated daily at 15:00 UTC. Standard contracts bagged a volume of 7.5 million XRP on Monday and 2.95 million XRP on Tuesday, while micro contracts did 517,000 XRP on Monday and at least 1.2 million XRP on Tuesday. Market participants see the launch of these regulated futures contracts as a step toward the potential approval of a spot XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the United States. 'Spot XRP ETFs only a matter of time,' Nate Geraci, President of the ETF Store, said in an X post Monday. Despite the strong debut of the futures contracts, XRP's spot price remained relatively stable, trading around $2.38, with a slight increase of 0.42% over the past 24 hours.
Mint
20-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
CME cattle futures mixed as US supply report looms
CHICAGO, - Chicago Mercantile Exchange live and feeder cattle were mixed on Tuesday, as market participants adjusted their positions ahead of a monthly government report that is expected to show fewer cattle in U.S. feedlots compared to a year ago, traders said. CME August live cattle futures settled down 0.075 cent to 207.85 cents per pound - though most other traded contracts firmed. Meanwhile, August feeder cattle futures rose 0.025 cent to end at 297.500 cents per pound. Prices in the cash cattle market has remained high on tight herd supplies, which has supported cattle futures, though some markets have seen prices ease a bit in recent days, two market analysts said. And consumer demand for beef and wholesale beef prices have stayed strong as the U.S. enters the height of grilling season, market analysts said. Traders said they are anticipating that boxed beef prices may soon show signs of easing, as grocery and restaurant demand for higher-priced beef cuts slow ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend, and buyers turn their attention to stocking up for Father's Day grilling. But on Tuesday morning, wholesale beef prices continued to surge: Choice cuts of boxed beef rose $5.63 to $360.44 per hundredweight , while select cuts rose $1.01 to $345.12 per cwt, U.S. Department of Agriculture data showed. "Everyone's now wondering how much further can these wholesale beef prices be pushed before consumers start to balk, and turn to cheaper options," said Dan Norcini, independent livestock analyst. Anticipating that shift to happen soon has pulled fund traders back into the lean hog market, and prompted some to begin unwinding their bear-spread positions, Norcini said. "They're trying to get positioned ahead of consumers starting to buy more pork than beef, because it's cheaper," Norcini said. The nearby CME lean hog June contract settled up 0.775 cent to 100.025 cents per pound on Tuesday, while most active July contract closed down 0.025 cent to 103.550 cents per pound. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
XRP Futures Start Trading on CME
XRP futures started trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's (CME) derivatives platform on Monday, becoming the first regulated futures tracking the price of XRP in the U.S. Traders can trade two contract sizes: 2,500 XRP and 50,000 XRP, which will both be cash-settled and based on the SME CF XRP-Dollar Reference Rate, which tracks the price of XRP daily at 4:00 p.m. London time. CME already offers bitcoin BTC, ethereum ETH and solana SOL futures as well as bitcoin and ethereum options. The Group's SOL futures, which launched in mid-March, had only booked $12.3 million in notional daily volume on the first day and closed with $7.8 million in open interest, a much lower number on an adjusted basis compared to the debut of the ether and bitcoin futures. The price of XRP was down 3.45% over the past 24 hours. The existence of regulated futures could mark a big step in the right direction as it relates to a spot XRP exchange-traded fund which is currently under review to be approved or denied by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Several U.S. issuers have filed to launch such a fund but have yet to receive a decision. "CME-traded XRP futures are now *live*," wrote ETF Store President Nate Geraci on X. "CFTC-regulated contracts on XRP. Spot XRP ETFs only a matter of time." The former SEC under Chair Gary Gensler had previously told issuers that one of the reasons it approved the spot bitcoin and ethereum ETFs was that it already had an existing regulated futures market in the in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Forbes
14-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
8 Of The Best Performing Cryptos In 2025 So Far: Which Coins Are Leading The Charge?
Crypto had a great start of the year, a couple of awful months, but is on the rise again. What's ... More ahead for the top projects? As we reach mid-2025, crypto markets are showing signs of recovery after a bruising first quarter that started with the Trump bump and ended with a tariff-induced fall. While broad indices are just coming into positive territory year‑to‑date (YTD), several large‑cap networks have bounced sharply since April thanks to long-anticipated upgrades, institutional pilots, renewed developer activity and optimism about a tariff-free — or at least a more tariff-certain — future. Although there are plenty of micro-cap cryptos that have had tremendous runs in the past few months, this article spotlights eight headline projects, summarizing fresh price data, market‑cap figures and the key catalysts driving sentiment right now. While many of these are still underwater as compared to the start of the year, others are recovering quickly. Among the large-cap networks that still command meaningful liquidity, none are in positive territory for 2025 after the January-to-February sell-off. This means the 'best-performing' names are simply those that have 'fallen least' since the start of the year. After a black‑swan sell-off in January and February, total crypto‑asset capitalization fell 40% before stabilizing on May 14th at roughly $3.5 trillion. Liquidity is still somewhat thin, but weekly inflows into smart‑contract tokens have turned positive for the first time since December of 2024, led by surging volumes on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's new Solana futures and the launch of five ether spot ETFs in Europe. Layer‑2 scaling, real-world‑asset (RWA) tokenization and cross-chain interoperability continue to dominate venture funding and developer road maps. Ethereum just put itself through a massive 'software tune-up' that widened its busy data highway, cutting transaction fees by about a third and letting more validators join the network. For everyday users, that means cheaper swaps, faster NFT mints and a clear signal that the original smart-contract chain is still investing in user experience. Under the hood, the Pectra hard-fork finalised the first phase of sharding and bumped the validator cap to 2,048 ETH, a change expected to attract fresh institutional staking flows. Ethereum still anchors roughly two-thirds of all DeFi liquidity, and Europe's brand new spot-ETH ETFs have started soaking up supply, reinforcing ETH's role as a key foundation for decentralised finance, NFTs and enterprise pilots alike. Solana remains the only top‑ten asset within single‑digit YTD losses thanks to a series of throughput upgrades. Solana is getting rid of the traffic jams that occasionally froze the network when too many users piled in. Think of it as resurfacing a toll road and adding extra lanes: Gamers, traders and NFT artists all get a smoother ride at low cost. Version 1.18 is scheduled for mainnet‑beta rollout on May 27, 2025, targeting long-standing congestion issues. Meanwhile, Jump Crypto's parallel validator client, Firedancer, entered non‑voting mainnet trial in April, with a full release expected later this year and a $1 million bug bounty to harden security. These improvements, plus the upcoming Solana mobile 'Seeker' launch, are fueling renewed developer enthusiasm across Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN), restaking and gaming verticals. Cardano adds a democratic twist to green blockchain tech: Its upcoming constitutional vote will let every ADA holder help steer the protocol's future. The idea is simple: If you own the token, you get a say in policy, which makes long‑term supporters feel more invested. Behind the scenes, Cardano's CIP‑1694 governance overhaul coincides with a 42% jump in Plutus smart‑contract scripts and new native stable‑coin pilots (USDM, USDA). Those milestones give Cardano a credible story as both an eco‑friendly settlement layer and a serious platform for DeFi growth in emerging markets. Avalanche lets companies spin up their own custom blockchains, called Subnets, and more than 100 have launched this year for gaming, AI and finance. Picture a franchise model: Every new branch draws fresh foot traffic back to the brand's main hub. Technically, Avalanche's consensus is built for speed, and the network is leaning into real‑world‑asset tokenisation via its $50 million Avalanche Vista fund while partnering with Mastercard on a LATAM pilot. Even though AVAX is still down heavily YTD, Subnet momentum and RWA deals could set the stage for a sharper rebound when sentiment turns. Polkadot wants to be the universal power strip for blockchains: Plug in a new project and it just works. That vision is getting closer with Polkadot 2.0, which promises easier and cheaper slots for would‑be parachains. The public testnet for Polkadot 2.0 'JAM' introduces flexible Coretime markets so teams pay only for the block‑space they need, while a revamped treasury aims to turbo‑charge ecosystem grants. Together these changes could reignite developer interest and help DOT close its performance gap. Cosmos developers shipped IBC v2 ('Eureka') in April, slashing cross‑chain packet costs and enabling simplified Ethereum roll‑up connections. The upgrade has already inspired Stride Labs to announce Stride Swap, the first IBC‑native DEX optimised for the new channel standard. Interchain staking proposals are also gaining momentum, signaling that liquid‑staking derivatives may soon expand beyond ATOM. Institutional demand for secure cross‑chain messaging keeps chainlink in the spotlight. In January Brazil's central bank selected a Microsoft‑Banco Inter‑Chainlink consortium for the second phase of its DREX CBDC pilot, using CCIP to settle trade‑finance workflows. Meanwhile, enterprise adoption of CCIP accelerated, with more than 15 banks trialing tokenised fund transfers via chainlink's Smart‑NAV standard following last year's DTCC pilot. Polygon is upgrading its token and its tech at the same time, adding extra 'express lanes' so Ethereum users can zip through congestion. The forthcoming POL token will unify staking across multiple polygon chains, simplifying life for validators and delegators alike. Underneath, polygon's zero‑knowledge roll‑ups processed a record 14 million proofs in April, and across protocol integration enables bridge-less deposits that shave onboarding fees. While price remains the laggard of this list, those plumbing upgrades could prime polygon for a stronger rebound when market sentiment improves. Bottom Line Even after a rocky start to the year, smart‑contract blue chips continue to execute on ambitious road maps that could set the stage for a stronger second half. Ethereum's Pectra fork, Solana's performance upgrades, Cardano's governance overhaul and Avalanche's RWA push all exemplify how bold technical bets can reposition networks for the next market cycle. Investors should track forthcoming hard‑fork dates, enterprise pilots and regulatory milestones, as these catalysts often precede outsized price moves—regardless of current YTD drawdowns. Disclaimer: Market data quoted above was captured on 14 May 2025 and will fluctuate. Nothing in this article constitutes financial advice.
