What compute futures are
A futures contract is an agreement to buy or sell at a later date at a price fixed when the contract is entered into; it is used to take on or shift price risk. Compute futures apply that structure to the price of GPU compute. Each contract names one published index of GPU rental prices, and its final settlement price is calculated from that index over the contract month.
So what a contract refers to is a price — the index level over a month — not access to hardware. All four contracts tracked here are recorded as cash-settled: at the end, a cash amount based on the index changes hands, under a procedure set in the contract. Their terms do not deliver GPU time. Access to usable GPU capacity must be arranged separately; these futures contracts do not provide it.
An explanation, not advice
This guide explains terms and how to read them. It does not suggest using these contracts, and it does not say whether, where or by whom they can be traded today.
GPU-hours, and why the hardware still matters
Contract sizes are stated in GPU-hours. In plain terms, a GPU-hour is one GPU used for one hour. That is a reading of the unit’s name: the terms checked here use the unit without defining it further.
Hypothetical illustration · arithmetic only
GPU1 and GPU2 are sized at 730 GPU-hours per contract in NYMEX’s filed terms. As a count of hours, 730 GPU-hours is the same whether you picture one GPU for 730 hours or ten GPUs for 73 hours. It also equals 24 × 365 ÷ 12, the average number of hours in a month of a 365-day year — our arithmetic, not a reason given in the filing.
Under those filed terms, each contract is valued at the contract quantity multiplied by the settlement price (E4). No price is shown or assumed here.
HPR and BKL state their size as the GPU-hours of a calendar period. This site does not calculate those hours, because the period, timezone and daylight-saving conventions are not confirmed.
Same hours, different hardware
A GPU-hour counts time; it does not make hardware interchangeable. An H100-hour and a B200-hour are hours on different chips, and each contract references a series for one GPU model. Which configuration, region and rental terms a series samples are methodology questions — see what to check before comparing indices. For the four series behind these contracts, the methodology version and exact configuration are not confirmed, so this site never treats two series as interchangeable, even for the same model.
How a contract relates to its benchmark
Each contract’s terms name one settlement benchmark: an index series published by a benchmark administrator. The exchange writes and governs the contract, the administrator publishes the index, and the contract’s settlement procedure turns the index values for the contract month into its final settlement price.
Contract, exchange and settlement series as recorded in this snapshot (Edition: Oct 6, 2026) | Contract | Legal exchange · group | Settlement series · administrator | Terms |
|---|
| GPU1 · H100 | New York Mercantile Exchange · CME Group | SD-H100 · Silicon Data / Silicon Derivatives Inc. Evidence | Filed proposed terms |
| GPU2 · B200 | New York Mercantile Exchange · CME Group | SD-B200 · Silicon Data / Silicon Derivatives Inc. Evidence | Filed proposed terms |
| HPR · H100 | ICE Futures U.S. · Intercontinental Exchange | OCPI H100 · Ornn Data Evidence | Published specifications |
| BKL · B200 | ICE Futures U.S. · Intercontinental Exchange | OCPI B200 · Ornn Data Evidence | Published specifications |
Read across a row, not down a column. GPU1 and HPR both reference the H100, yet they settle on different series from different administrators (SD-H100 and OCPI H100). The same GPU model does not make two settlement series — or two contracts’ exposure — equivalent. A legal exchange is also not its group: NYMEX is an exchange within CME Group, and ICE Futures U.S. is an exchange within Intercontinental Exchange (glossary).
What is and isn’t confirmed about each series →
How to read a specification
A specification lists the terms that define one contract. Note first where it comes from: NYMEX’s terms are filed proposed terms, attributed to its CFTC submission and its date; ICE Futures U.S.’s are published specifications on its product pages. Then read the fields below. The values are the H100 pair as recorded in this snapshot, and each opens its evidence.
Contract unit
How much one contract represents. Here it is stated in GPU-hours. Glossary
- HPR Contract size
- Quantity not calculatedCalendar-period GPU-hours over the contract month. Hours per month are not calculated: the contract month, timezone and daylight-saving conventions are unconfirmed.Rule verified Oct 5 · S6 · S12
Price quotation
The unit a price is stated in. This site shows the unit, never prices.
Minimum price increment
The smallest price change allowed in trading. Glossary
- GPU1 Minimum price increment
- Outright trades: $0.01 per GPU-hour. Rule 542F simultaneous intercommodity spreads only: $0.005 per GPU-hour.Verified Oct 5 · S8
Tick value
What one minimum price change is worth for one contract. It depends on the quotation unit and the contract unit, so it is withheld where the quotation unit is unclear. Glossary
- GPU1 Outright tick value
- $7.30 per contract for one $0.01 outright increment. Not a margin or price.Verified Oct 5 · S9
Final settlement
How the final settlement price is set — here, from the contract’s benchmark over the contract month — and whether settlement is in cash. Glossary
- GPU1 Settlement
- Cash-settled. Final settlement is the arithmetic mean of SD-H100 on-demand settlement prices over the business days of the contract month.Verified Oct 5 · S8
- HPR Settlement
- Cash-settled. Final settlement is the average of daily OCPI H100 index prices over the contract month, built from hourly GPU prices as described by the exchange. Business- vs calendar-day treatment awaits methodology review.Verified Oct 5 · S6 · S12
End of trading
When trading in a contract month ends. A date rule in the terms is not a launch date.
Why HPR’s quotation fields are withheld
The specification’s sections disagree about the unit a price is quoted in. Rather than choose one, this site shows the quotation unit as under clarification, the tick rules as not confirmed, and calculates no tick value.
Dates in a specification
Specifications contain date rules, such as when trading ends or when final payment follows. Exchange calendars add dated rows, such as ICE’s first trading date (FTD). These are calendar fields: they do not confirm a launch or a trade. A regulator’s review deadline or a comment deadline marks the end of a period, not an outcome. Reading the dates shows each recorded date with its kind.
Three separate status facts
A contract’s status is not one label. This site records three facts for each contract and never derives one from another: its regulatory status (what a regulator’s record says), its listing and launch (whether terms, a calendar or a launch date are published) and its trading evidence (whether a production trade has been verified).
GPU1 Filed specifications
HPR Published specifications
Regulatory status also depends on the route an exchange takes. Under CFTC rules, a designated contract market can list a new product by certifying that it complies with the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations (17 CFR 40.2, E2), or it can ask the Commission to approve the product before listing it (17 CFR 40.3, E3). For GPU1 and GPU2, the recorded pathway is an approval application (evidence). For HPR and BKL, the pathway was not established in the sources checked.
Regulatory status of all four contracts →
What this snapshot can and cannot tell you
You can establish
- Which legal exchange filed or published each contract’s terms, and which index series each one settles on.
- The terms as filed or published, with the document and locator behind each value.
- Each status fact as recorded, with its dates and the sources checked.
You cannot establish
- Prices, settlement prices, volume or open interest: no market data is displayed.
- Whether a contract can be traded today: no production trade is verified here, and facts can change after their check dates.
- How the four series are built: methodology versions and exact configurations are not confirmed.
- The quotation unit, tick size and tick value of HPR and BKL: they are withheld while the specification is unclear.
- The current regulatory status of HPR and BKL: it was not established in the sources checked.
- Whether CME’s named clearing house and ICE’s clearing venue code describe comparable entities: each is recorded as published, not mapped to the other.
The snapshot holds 4 contracts, 190 recorded facts, 248 evidence references, 20 sources and 13 open questions. Sources are not re-checked automatically.
“Not confirmed” is not “no”
When a field reads “Not confirmed”, the sources checked here did not establish it. That describes the evidence available, not the contract: it does not mean unapproved, unlisted or untraded.
Glossary
Terms used in this guide and across the site. Each names its basis: a checked general source (E-numbers, listed below), the snapshot sources whose contract terms use it, or this site’s own convention.
- Futures contract
-
An agreement to buy or sell at a later date at a price fixed when the contract is entered into, used to take on or shift price risk. A position can be closed early by an equal and opposite trade (offset) or settled under the contract’s terms.
Source: E1
- Cash settlement
-
Settling a contract with a cash amount based on the level of an index or price, by a procedure set in the contract, instead of delivering the underlying item.
Source: E1
- Final settlement price
-
The price at which a cash-settled futures contract is settled at the end of its life, by a procedure the exchange specifies. For these contracts the procedure is an average of a named index series over the contract month.
Source: E1 · Used in contract terms: S8, S6, S7
- Contract size (contract unit)
-
The amount one contract represents. The contracts tracked here state it in GPU-hours, either as a fixed quantity or as the hours of a calendar period.
Source: E1 · Used in contract terms: S8, S6, S7
- GPU-hour
-
The unit these contracts are sized in. In plain terms, one GPU used for one hour — a reading of the unit’s name, because the terms checked here do not define it further (for example, which configuration counts as one GPU). An hour of one GPU model is not an hour of another.
Used in contract terms: S8, S6, S7
- Settlement benchmark (index series)
-
The published index series a contract’s final settlement is calculated from, named in the contract’s terms. Each tracked contract names exactly one series.
Site convention: Benchmarks
- Benchmark administrator
-
The organization that publishes an index series. Two series for the same GPU model can come from different administrators and be built differently.
Site convention: Benchmarks
- Legal exchange and exchange group
-
The legal exchange is the designated contract market whose rules govern a contract, such as NYMEX or ICE Futures U.S. Its group (CME Group, Intercontinental Exchange) is a different organization and is named separately.
Source: E1 · Site convention: Methodology
- Minimum price fluctuation (tick)
-
The smallest price change allowed when trading a contract.
Source: E1
- Tick value
-
The money value of one minimum price change for one contract. This site shows it only where the quotation unit and tick rules are clear.
Used in contract terms: S9 · Site convention: Comparison
- Filed proposed terms
-
Contract terms an exchange has submitted to the CFTC. They are shown attributed to the filing and its date; current applicability is not established while the regulatory record is pending.
Site convention: Methodology
- Published specifications
-
Terms an exchange publishes on its product pages. Publication does not by itself establish regulatory status, a launch or trading.
Site convention: Methodology
- Certification and approval
-
Two ways a designated contract market can bring a new product to the CFTC: certify that it complies and list it, or ask the Commission to approve it first.
Source: E2, E3
- Regulatory status, listing and launch, trading evidence
-
Three separate facts this site records for each contract: what a regulator’s record says; whether terms, a calendar or a launch date are published; and whether a production trade has been verified. None is derived from another.
Site convention: Methodology
- Calendar field
-
A date in an exchange’s published expiry calendar, such as a first trading date (FTD). It does not confirm a launch or a trade.
Site convention: Regulatory status
- Clearing organization
-
The entity through which futures trades are cleared and settled, also called a clearing house. This site records a named clearing house and an exchange’s clearing venue code as published; it does not map one onto the other.
Source: E1 · Site convention: Market access roles
- “Not confirmed”
-
The sources checked for this snapshot did not establish the fact. It describes the evidence available here, not a negative finding: it does not mean unapproved, unlisted or untraded.
Site convention: Methodology
Sources for the general explanations
These were checked for this guide on Oct 6, 2026 (UTC day), separately from the snapshot. Facts about the tracked contracts come from the snapshot (Edition of Oct 6, 2026 · updated Oct 6, 2026 at 12:04 am EDT); their evidence is listed below and in the source registry.
-
E1 CFTC Glossary (opens in a new tab)
U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
- Used for
- General definitions of a futures contract, cash settlement, final settlement price, contract size, minimum tick, clearing organization and designated contract market.
- Locator
- Entries: Futures Contract; Offset; Cash Settlement; Physical Delivery; Final Settlement Price; Contract Size; Minimum Price Fluctuation (Minimum Tick); Clearing Organization; Designated Contract Market (DCM)
- Checked (UTC day)
- Oct 6, 2026
-
E2 17 CFR 40.2 — Listing products for trading by certification (opens in a new tab)
eCFR (Code of Federal Regulations, Title 17, Part 40)
- Used for
- That a designated contract market can list a new product by filing a certification that it complies with the Act and CFTC regulations.
- Locator
- § 40.2(a), submission requirements
- Checked (UTC day)
- Oct 6, 2026
-
E3 17 CFR 40.3 — Voluntary submission of new products for Commission review and approval (opens in a new tab)
eCFR (Code of Federal Regulations, Title 17, Part 40)
- Used for
- That a designated contract market may instead ask the CFTC to approve a new product before listing it.
- Locator
- § 40.3(a), request for approval
- Checked (UTC day)
- Oct 6, 2026
-
E4 NYMEX Submission 26-370 (snapshot source S8), Rules 1045102.B and 1047102.B “Trading Unit” (opens in a new tab)
NYMEX, filed with the CFTC
- Used for
- That under the filed terms each GPU1 or GPU2 contract is valued at the contract quantity multiplied by the settlement price. Re-read for this explanation only; the snapshot’s facts from S8 keep their own check dates.
- Locator
- Chapters 1045 and 1047, Rule 102.B Trading Unit
- Checked (UTC day)
- Oct 6, 2026
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