The 'Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) gap,' seen as a key short-term trading indicator in the bitcoin futures market, will no longer form anew.

On May 31, blockchain media outlet BeInCrypto reported that CME shifted cryptocurrency futures and options trading to a 24-hour system from May 29.

The move changes a market structure that has continued since the launch of bitcoin futures in December 2017. CME bitcoin futures used to stop trading each weekend, while spot exchanges and offshore perpetual futures markets stayed open. When prices moved over the weekend, a price void, known as a gap, appeared on charts when CME futures reopened. The market has used it as a signal to gauge short-term price targets.

CME gaps have often been filled, making them a widely used indicator for short-term bitcoin trading. In the past, the gap-fill rate has been put at more than 70 to 90 percent. Institutional investors, however, have faced limits in hedging weekend price swings in real time in a regulated trading environment.

Market participants also focused on conditions just before the change. Analyst Dan Crypto Trades said bitcoin traded over the past weekend in a large range between a few remaining gaps after filling the latest CME gap. He pointed out that 24-hour trading in CME bitcoin futures would start from this weekend and no new gaps would form going forward. He said existing gaps would remain on charts.

CME will run nine contracts, including bitcoin, ether and solana, under continuous trading. It will still have regular maintenance breaks of two minutes on weekdays and two hours on Saturdays. Portfolio managers, exchange-traded fund (ETF) issuers and corporate treasury organizations will now have a regulated-market channel to hedge weekend exposure in real time.

CME also stressed expanding demand. Tim McCourt (팀 맥코트), global head of equities, FX and alternative products at CME Group, said in a statement that demand for risk management in digital asset markets hit an all-time high and that it led to a record $3 trillion in notional trading volume in cryptocurrency futures and options in 2025.

Product expansion will also continue. CME plans to launch bitcoin volatility futures today, a new contract that tracks 30-day implied volatility. The addition allows volatility itself, not only price direction, to be traded.

The market is now assessing the influence of remaining gaps under the new system. Bitcoin traded around $73,441 as of May 31 and was down about 3.7 percent on the week. Three previously formed gaps remain on the chart, with areas around $78,500 and $80,000 above the current price and the $67,000 to $70,000 range below it.

Attention is now on whether past gaps still pull prices in a continuous-trading environment. After the first 'gapless Monday,' CME's early trading volume and open interest are emerging as indicators to gauge the pace of changes in institutional investors' strategies.

THE CME GAP ERA JUST ENDED CME Bitcoin futures will now trade 24/7 just like perps. But $BTC still has 3 UNFILLED gaps left: • $80K • $78.5K • Below $70K And this is going live during active war tensions. Here's what changes for you as a trader. pic.twitter.com/3bXlLx7hGV