CME Group Set to Introduce Cardano, Chainlink, and Stellar Futures – What You Need to Know

CME Group, a leading derivatives exchange, is expanding its portfolio of regulated cryptocurrency derivatives by launching futures contracts for Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK), and Stellar (XLM).

Key Takeaways

CME Group is set to introduce futures contracts for Cardano, Chainlink, and Stellar on February 9, 2026, pending regulatory approval.
The exchange will offer various contract sizes: standard and micro for Cardano, and large and small for Chainlink and Stellar.
This addition builds on CME’s existing cryptocurrency suite, which already includes Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP futures.
Although the announcement is positive, the prices for ADA, LINK, and XLM have shown little change, with minor corrections in the market.

Cardano

CME Expands Its Crypto Derivatives Offering

On Thursday, CME Group, located in Chicago, announced plans to expand its range of regulated cryptocurrency derivatives. The new products will feature futures contracts for Cardano, Chainlink, and Stellar, set to launch on February 9, 2026, contingent upon regulatory review.

The futures contracts will include both larger and smaller contract sizes. The standard Cardano futures will represent 100,000 ADA, while micro-sized futures will encompass 10,000 ADA. Similarly, Chainlink and Stellar futures will consist of large contracts at 5,000 LINK and 250,000 XLM, respectively, with small contracts covering 250 LINK and 12,500 XLM.

This latest addition enriches CME’s crypto suite, which already includes four of the top cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. CME was a pioneer in offering Bitcoin (BTC) futures in 2017 and followed up with Ethereum (ETH) futures in 2021. Recently, in the first half of 2025, the exchange incorporated Solana (SOL) and XRP futures into its offerings, along with options trading for these cryptocurrencies.

Giovanni Vicioso, the Global Head of Cryptocurrency Products at CME Group, emphasized the cryptocurrency sector's growth and evolution over the years. He noted that “given crypto’s record growth over the last year, clients seek reliable, regulated products to manage price risk and additional tools to access this dynamic market.”

“With these new micro and larger-sized futures contracts for Cardano, Chainlink, and Stellar, market participants will enjoy greater flexibility, better options, and improved capital efficiency,” he stated.

Price Movement of Cardano, Chainlink, and Stellar

Despite the promising news, ADA, LINK, and XLM have experienced minimal price changes, with all three altcoins continuing their day-to-day corrections. Chainlink and Stellar registered a decline of around 4% from their Thursday highs, landing at approximately $13.60 and $0.225, respectively.

Chainlink has temporarily lost the $13.80 support level and is trying to hold its current price to prevent further losses. XLM likewise faced resistance at its Wednesday high and bounced back from the $0.230 mark, continuing its drop towards a two-day low.

In the case of ADA, it was trying to regain the $0.41 price point before the announcement, briefly recovering from a recent decline. Cardano rose over 10% from its recent lows towards the significant $0.42-$0.43 range, but was turned away from this region on Wednesday. It retracted almost 9% from its local highs to test the $0.40 level. On Thursday morning, the cryptocurrency bounced from this price point but eventually continued its downward movement throughout the day.

As a result, Cardano has lost most of its gains from this week and is currently trading around $0.391.

CArdano, ada, adausdt ADA’s performance over the past week. Source: ADAUSDT on TradingView