TradeStation has opened access to CME single-stock futures for its retail customers, adding 55 standard-sized and 22 micro-sized contracts covering more than 50 US stocks to its platform. The move puts TradeStation alongside Schwab, NinjaTrader, EdgeClear, Optimus Futures and Plus500, all of which had already enabled access to the contracts since CME Group launched them on 27 July 2026.
What CME Single-Stock Futures Actually Offer
Single-stock futures (SSFs) are exchange-traded contracts that let traders take a long or short position on an individual company’s shares without owning or borrowing the underlying stock. CME clears every contract, so counterparty risk sits with the exchange rather than another trader.
The underlying names span the S&P 500, Nasdaq-100 and Russell 1000. Among the 55 standard-contract names are AAPL, AMZN, GOOGL, META, MSFT, NVDA, TSLA and SpaceX (SPCX), alongside blue-chips such as JPMorgan (JPM), Berkshire Hathaway B (BRKB), Walmart (WMT) and Exxon Mobil (XOM).
The two contract sizes work differently. A standard-sized SSF covers 100 shares, so a contract on a $200 stock carries $20,000 of notional exposure. A micro SSF uses a 10-share multiplier, cutting that notional to $2,000 and making it more practical for retail traders who want to size positions carefully.
On price sensitivity: according to the CME contract specifications, the minimum price move on a standard SSF is $1.00 per tick, and $0.10 on a micro. Contracts are listed quarterly (March, June, September, December), with two consecutive quarters on offer at any time.
Scale, Oversight and the Open Pricing Question
The broader CME single-stock futures suite covers stocks that together represent roughly 55% to 65% of the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 by index weighting, according to CME Group’s own FAQ. Average daily notional volume across the suite runs to over $200 billion, reflecting the size of the underlying equity market those contracts track.
CME first announced plans for the product on 10 February 2026, describing SSFs as a simpler, more cost-effective way to take a view on a stock. The formal launch-date confirmation followed on 30 June 2026, with trading beginning on 27 July. Tim McCourt, CME’s Global Head of Equities, FX and Alternative Products, said in the launch press release that the contracts were designed so clients could ‘easily transition between broad market index hedging and targeted single-name exposure’ and cited client demand for the ‘capital efficiencies of a centralised marketplace.’
From a regulatory standpoint, SSFs sit under dual supervision: the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) jointly oversee security futures products. Any venue offering them must be regulated by one regulator and notice-registered with the other, according to the CFTC’s designated contract market framework. That dual-oversight structure means SSFs carry a different regulatory wrapper from ordinary equity options.
Position limits also apply. CME has set an initial cap of 200,000 contracts per underlying, with tighter limits active during the last three trading days of each expiring contract month. Traders using calendar spreads (holding offsetting positions in different expiry months of the same contract) face a minimum margin requirement of 5% of the market value of the higher-value contract leg.
John Bartleman, President and CEO of TradeStation Group, said: ‘SSFs give active traders one more way to trade the names they’re already watching,’ and added that, ‘paired with a margin-based, nearly around-the-clock structure, these new contracts provide another way for traders to explore new strategies.’ The contracts trade nearly 24 hours a day, Sunday through Friday.
One question TradeStation has not yet answered is cost. The broker has not disclosed a commission structure specific to SSFs. Futures fees typically combine a per-contract broker charge with exchange fees and regulatory levies, and the total varies by volume tier. For traders comparing TradeStation against Schwab or the other brokers already live with CME single-stock futures, that pricing detail will matter as much as the contract list itself.
The first expiry date that new TradeStation SSF customers will face is the nearest quarterly contract month. Watch for TradeStation’s commission announcement: if fees land materially above competitors, the platform’s broader toolset will need to compensate.
