Explainer
Compute futures: the CME Group GPU rental index contracts
NYMEX has asked the CFTC to approve futures on GPU rental price indexes. They are not approved or trading as of Oct 15, 2026.
Status as of Oct 15, 2026
Under CFTC review; not approved and not trading. NYMEX asked the CFTC for approval of the two contracts on August 11, 2026 and planned to list them on October 5, 2026 if approved. On September 21, 2026 the CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight extended its review to the end of November 9, 2026. The CFTC’s filing record for the H100 contract reads “Approval Pending (90)”.
- NYMEX files Submission 26-370 with the CFTC, asking for approval to list both contracts. CFTC (filing by NYMEX)
- The CFTC publishes a Request for Comment on listing compute derivatives contracts (91 FR 54259); comments close October 20, 2026. CFTC Division of Market Oversight
- The CFTC’s Division of Market Oversight extends its review of the submission by 45 days, to the end of November 9, 2026, citing novel or complex issues. CFTC Division of Market Oversight
- Planned first trade date in the filing, subject to approval. The CFTC filing record still shows approval pending as of the check date. CFTC Industry Filings
This page relies on the exchange’s filing and the CFTC’s own documents. CME Group’s product and press pages could not be opened when this page was checked, so nothing here comes from them. Check CME Group and the CFTC for the current status.
What compute futures are
A futures contract is an agreement priced today for a payment that depends on a price later. These two contracts are cash-settled: nobody delivers GPUs or computing time. Each pays out based on a published index of GPU rental prices, so a buyer gains if the index averages above the traded price in the contract month and loses if it averages below, and a seller the reverse. The filing names two contracts, one tied to an H100 rental index and one tied to a B200 rental index.
Contract specifications as filed
From NYMEX Submission 26-370. Specifications can change before listing.
| Product | Code | Rulebook chapter | Reference index |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silicon Data H100 Rental Index Futures | GPU1 | 1045 | Silicon Data H100 Rental Index (SD-H100) |
| Silicon Data B200 Rental Index Futures | GPU2 | 1047 | Silicon Data B200 Rental Index (SD-B200) |
| Exchange | NYMEX (CFTC (filing by NYMEX)) |
|---|---|
| Platform and clearing | CME Globex for trading; CME ClearPort for clearing submission; cleared by CME Clearing (CFTC (filing by NYMEX)) |
| Contract size | 730 GPU-hours (CFTC (filing by NYMEX)) |
| Price quotation | U.S. dollars and cents per GPU-hour (CFTC (filing by NYMEX)) |
| Minimum price fluctuation | $0.01 per GPU-hour, worth $7.30 per contract (CFTC (filing by NYMEX)) |
| Settlement type | Financial (cash settled) (CFTC (filing by NYMEX)) |
| Final settlement price | The arithmetic average of the index’s on-demand settlement prices for each business day in the contract month (CFTC (filing by NYMEX)) |
| Index administrator | Silicon Derivatives Inc. (“Silicon Data”) (CFTC (filing by NYMEX)) |
| Index geography | United States (CFTC (filing by NYMEX)) |
| Listing schedule | Monthly contracts for 36 consecutive months; initial listing October 2026 (CFTC (filing by NYMEX)) |
| Termination of trading | Last business day of the contract month (CFTC (filing by NYMEX)) |
| Block trades | Minimum 5 contracts, with a 15-minute reporting window (CFTC (filing by NYMEX)) |
How settlement relates to rental prices
The final settlement price is the average of the reference index’s daily on-demand settlement prices across the contract month. So the contracts follow the index, which Silicon Derivatives Inc. administers, and only indirectly what any one provider lists. The index methodology is not part of the filing text this page was built from, and the Census has not reviewed it.
The Census’s GPU rental prices are different: prices that providers post on their own pages, per GPU-hour, with a source and check date for each. On Oct 15, 2026 the lowest listed on-demand H100 price there was $2.50 per GPU-hour (Hyperstack) and the lowest B200 price was $6.00 (Hyperstack). Those are listing prices, not the index, and they are not a forecast of where either contract would trade.
Compute futures: common questions
Are GPU rental futures trading yet?
Not as of Oct 15, 2026. NYMEX filed the two contracts with the CFTC for approval and planned to list them on October 5, 2026 if approved, but the CFTC extended its review to the end of November 9, 2026, and its filing record shows approval pending.
What do the contracts settle against?
Cash, at the arithmetic average of the Silicon Data H100 (or B200) Rental Index on-demand settlement prices for each business day in the contract month, as published by Silicon Derivatives Inc.
How big is one contract?
The filing sets the contract unit at 730 GPU-hours, quoted in dollars and cents per GPU-hour, with a $0.01 minimum move worth $7.30 per contract. At an illustrative quote of $2.00, one contract would be valued at 730 × $2.00 = $1,460.
Do the Census’s prices match the futures’ reference index?
No claim is made that they do. The index is a separate product from Silicon Derivatives Inc., and the Census has not reviewed its methodology. The Census lists provider-posted prices, with their sources, on the GPU rental prices pages.
Sources
- NYMEX Submission No. 26-370: initial listing of two compute futures contracts, CFTC (filing by NYMEX), Aug 11, 2026
- Extension of initial review period of NYMEX Submission No. 26-370, CFTC Division of Market Oversight, Sep 21, 2026
- Silicon Data H100 Rental Index Futures, filing record, CFTC Industry Filings, Sep 21, 2026
Related: GPU rental prices · H100 prices · B200 prices · Price changes
Cite this page
Last updated Oct 15, 2026. Figures may change as records are updated — include the date you retrieved them.
| APA | Data Center Census. (2026). Compute futures explained. Retrieved from https://datacentercensus.com/compute-futures |
|---|---|
| MLA | “Compute futures explained.” Data Center Census, Oct 15, 2026, https://datacentercensus.com/compute-futures. |
| Link | https://datacentercensus.com/compute-futures |
Republishing a figure or table? Attribute it to Data Center Census with a link to this page. The underlying data is downloadable as JSON and CSV; the press kit has standing figures and contact details.