CME has launched its sports team index futures, which allow bettors to trade on NHL team performances like a stock, and to trade on margin, with the business touting the contracts’ utility to vendors, sponsors, and retail traders.
Futures on NHL team performance went live Sunday night, and the exchange hopes that more leagues will follow.
The futures are based on sports team indices, which are created by FutureSports. The indices start trading at 7,500 at the start of a season and move up or down based on in-game, weekly, and monthly statistical performance. For example in hockey, shots and goals add points to the index, while shots and goals conceded have the opposite effect.
