Key Highlights
- CME Group has launched regulated Chainlink (LINK) futures, letting traders buy and sell LINK on a safe, official market.
- The futures come in both standard (5,000 LINK) and micro (250 LINK) contract sizes.
- Both big institutions and small traders can now trade LINK while following rules and managing their investment risk.
CME Group, a Chicago-based derivatives exchange, has launched regulated futures contracts for Chainlink (LINK), providing both institutional and retail traders a way to trade the LINK token on a regulated market.
While the launch was first announced in mid-January, the contracts are now available. The offering lets traders manage their risk while following regulatory guidelines as demand for trusted crypto products increases.
The futures come in two sizes: the regular, or “standard,” contract representing about 5,000 LINKs, and the smaller “micro” contract, which is for 250 LINKs. This makes it easy for big investors and small traders to take part.
Cardano (ADA) and Stellar (XLM) join the lineup
Alongside LINK, CME Group also launched futures contracts for Cardano (ADA), and Steller (XLM). According to the exchange, ADA futures come in a standard contract of 100,000 coins and a micro contract of 10,000 coins.
While XLM futures are offered as 250,000 coins for standard and 12,500 coins for micro contracts.
LINK trades near recent lows
At the time of writing, LINK is trading around $8.91, up a modest 1.15% in the last 24 hours thanks to a 17% increase in its trading activity to which sum to about $642 million in volume. Its market cap is also up by 1.11% to around $6.3 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.
However, the token was hit hard last week during the market crash that saw Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market trade as low as $60K. As a result, LINK now trades near a low not seen since 2023.
On the weekly timeframe, the token broke through a key support level at $10.8, and nosedived with strong momentum. Currently, price is trading to another support level located at $4.9, which could serve as a recovery level for the token.
Moreover, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) is at 29, while the moving average sits at 31. This means the price is at an Oversold level, controlled by the seller, and buyers could soon take over the momentum.
Broader context
Chainlink plays a major role in the crypto space by providing real-world data to smart contracts, which helps decentralized finance (DeFi) apps, exchanges, and other blockchain projects. By launching a regulated future for the token, CME allows investors to safely bet on LINK’s price or protect their existing holding.
Moreover, CME’s crypto derivatives business is growing. It launched Bitcoin futures in 2017, followed by Ether, XRP and Solana. In 2025, the platform reported an average daily trading volume of 278,300 contracts (worth $12 billion) and open interest of 313,900 contracts (26.4 billion).
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