CME Group is rolling out Micro E-mini options on S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures on June 29, 2026, giving smaller traders access to major US equity indices at a fraction of the usual cost. The contracts are sized at 1/10th of standard E-mini options, cash settled, and available with daily expiries.
What the new contracts actually look like
The Micro E-mini options will trade Monday through Friday with round-the-clock access via CME’s Globex electronic trading platform. Cash settlement means no physical delivery risk, which simplifies things considerably for traders who don’t want to deal with the mechanics of futures assignment.
The contract size is the headline feature. At one-tenth the notional value of standard E-mini options, the margin requirements drop proportionally.
These options build on the foundation CME laid back in May 2019 when it first introduced Micro E-mini futures on the same indices. Those products were designed to solve the same problem, giving retail and smaller institutional traders a way to trade S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 exposure without committing the capital that full-size E-mini contracts demand.
