CME Group Inc. (CME)

CME Group reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of $1.7 billion on 21 October, which it called the highest third-quarter revenue on record 3. Net income was $1.0 billion, or $2.89 a share on a diluted basis 3. Revenue was up 13 percent from a year earlier 2.

Average daily volume, the number of contracts traded per day, reached a third-quarter record of 29.4 million 3. Terry Duffy, the chairman and chief executive, said volume grew by double digits in all six asset classes 3. Market data revenue, from selling price information, was a record $243 million, up 20 percent 3.

The 10-Q says the company believes the Federal Reserve's first rate increase in over three years drove Treasury trading higher 2. It also credits doubts about AI spending for added volume in Nasdaq-100 products 2.

The open question is leadership 4. Duffy is due to hand the chief executive role to Lynne Fitzpatrick on the later of 1 March 2027 and the filing of the 2026 annual report 4. Jack Tobin is due to become finance chief in March 2027 5.

The company began as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, called the Merc, which Reuters described as the smaller and newer of Chicago's two big futures exchanges 6. Terry Duffy started there in 1980 as a trader in the pork trading room 6. He later led it through the global financial crisis 6.

In 2007 CME completed what Reuters called the industry's first big merger, with its local rival the Chicago Board of Trade 6. A year later it took over the New York Mercantile Exchange 6. Today the 10-K describes CME Group as the holding company for CME, CBOT, NYMEX, COMEX and NEX Group plc 1.

A later purchase of NEX Group added the cash markets business 1. That business is BrokerTec, which trades government bonds and repo (short-term loans secured by bonds), and EBS, which trades foreign exchange 1. It generated $283.7 million of clearing and transaction fees in 2025 1.

Revenue rose from $5,578.9 million in 2023 to $6,130.1 million in 2024 and $6,520.6 million in 2025 1. Clearing and transaction fees, the per-contract charges that make up most of it, grew 6 percent in 2025 on 6 percent more contracts 1. The 10-K points to tariffs and uncertainty over Federal Reserve rate policy as drivers of volatility that year 1.

In 2025 average daily volume reached a record 28.1 million contracts, with a third straight year of records in interest rates 1. Micro-sized products, built to attract new customers, grew 32 percent 1. Two other 2025 launches were BrokerTec Chicago, a second order book for cash Treasuries, and FX Spot+, which links the over-the-counter spot currency market with currency futures 1.

In 2021 the company signed a 10-year partnership with Google Cloud to move its systems to the cloud 1. In 2023 it launched SPAN 2, a newer way of setting margin, the collateral clients must post against their positions 1.

In December 2025 CME and FanDuel formed a joint venture, in which CME owns 51 percent, to run a prediction markets app for retail customers 1. Reuters reported that the platform launched in five states, with event contracts on global benchmarks and key economic indicators 7. Reuters added that analysts say CME wants to be the preferred exchange for sportsbooks entering prediction markets 7.

In December 2025 a subsidiary, CME Securities Clearing Inc., received SEC approval to become a securities clearing agency 1. The aim is to help firms meet the coming SEC clearing requirements for Treasury and repo transactions 1.

What it sells and how it earns

CME Group runs the exchanges CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX, where clients trade futures, options, cash and over-the-counter products, and it clears those trades 1. Futures, options and swaps let customers protect against, or bet on, price changes in financial instruments and physical goods 1.

Revenue comes in three lines 1. Clearing and transaction fees were $5,281.1 million in 2025, about 81 percent of revenue (computed) 1. Market data was $803.1 million, about 12.3 percent (computed), and other revenue $436.4 million, about 6.7 percent (computed) 1.

Interest rates and Treasuries

Interest rates are the largest product line, at 15.1 million contracts a day in the third quarter of 2026, up 13 percent 2. Its key products are SOFR, U.S. Treasury and Federal Funds contracts 1. Ten-year Treasury futures and options averaged 3,573 thousand contracts a day, up 27 percent 2.

Equity indexes and crypto

Equity index volume was 7.7 million contracts a day in the third quarter, up 23 percent, and E-mini Nasdaq 100 products rose 73 percent 2. The S&P 500 futures sit under a long-term exclusive licence from S&P Dow Jones Indices, a joint venture with S&P Global in which CME owns 27 percent 1.

Crypto contracts cover Bitcoin, Ether, Solana and XRP 1. Bitcoin futures and options averaged 103 thousand contracts a day in the third quarter, up 21 percent, while Ether fell 70 percent 2. Markets Media reported that crypto futures and options trade 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from 29 May 2026 10.

Currencies, energy, farm goods and metals

Foreign exchange averaged 988 thousand contracts a day in the third quarter, up 19 percent, and energy 2,665 thousand, up 16 percent 2. Agricultural commodities averaged 2,022 thousand, up 18 percent, and metals 935 thousand, up 13 percent 2. The company believes the Middle East conflict lifted crude oil trading and the Russia-Ukraine conflict lifted wheat 2.

Clearing

The clearing house acts as the buyer to every seller and the seller to every buyer, which limits the risk that one side fails to pay 1. One clearing firm accounted for 12 percent of clearing and transaction fees in 2025 1. Offsetting related positions saved clients about $72 billion of margin a day on average in 2025 1.

Cash markets: BrokerTec and EBS

BrokerTec is a trading venue for government bonds and repo, with a leading position in cash U.S. Treasuries 1. EBS trades spot foreign exchange and spot precious metals 1.

Market data and benchmarks

The 10-Q credits higher usage of certain products, demand from new customer segments and price increases for market data revenue growth 2. The two largest resellers of market data accounted for about 30 percent of that revenue in 2025 1. CME licenses CME Term SOFR, which the 10-K calls the only SOFR rate endorsed by the Alternative Reference Rates Committee 1.

Event contracts

The FanDuel joint venture, 51 percent owned by CME, runs an app offering retail customers event contracts on financial benchmarks and on sports 1. Reuters reported that DraftKings also launched a prediction markets platform with CME as the exchange at launch 7.

People, offices and data centers

As of 31 December 2025 the company had about 3,875 employees, 58 percent of them in the U.S. 1. Terry Duffy has been chairman and chief executive since 2016 1. Lynne Fitzpatrick has been president and chief financial officer since November 2024 1.

The headquarters at 20 South Wacker Drive in Chicago is leased, about 500,000 square feet, through 2032 1. The largest data center, in Aurora, Illinois, is leased from CyrusOne through 2031 1.

Rivals

The 10-K names Intercontinental Exchange, Cboe Global Markets, Euronext, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing and Deutsche Boerse as competing exchanges 1. It also names new entrants, among them the newly launched FMX Futures Exchange, digital asset platforms and prediction markets 1. Reuters said perpetual futures and prediction markets challenge the traditional derivatives business 6.

Current problems

The 10-Q says management believes the outcome of regulatory inquiries will not have a material impact on the company's financial position or results 2. The company lists as a risk the cost of running both on-premise and Google Cloud systems during the move 3.

The umbrella, in words

The exchanges are CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX, and the trading platforms are CME Globex, BrokerTec and EBS 3. The subsidiaries exhibit lists, among others, Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc., Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc., BrokerTec Americas LLC and CME Securities Clearing Inc. 13.

CME owns 27 percent of S&P Dow Jones Indices, 33 percent of Shanghai CFETS-NEX International Money Broking and 51 percent of FanDuel Prediction Markets Holdings 1.

Class B shareholders, who are members of the CME exchange, may elect six directors even if their Class A holding is very small 1. Vanguard Capital Management reported holding 7.45 percent of the common stock in a Schedule 13G 12.

The company said in the 10-K that it expects to launch its securities clearing service later in 2026 1. The aim is to help firms meet SEC clearing requirements for Treasury transactions as of 31 December 2026 and for repo transactions as of 30 June 2027 1.

In October CME said it had completed initial performance testing of CME Globex in the cloud and that its Aurora Cloud Region is ahead of schedule 9. The facility is targeted for client testing in mid-2027, and livestock markets are to move there in late 2027 9. Duffy said the company will work to ensure clients can use both Google Cloud-managed services and co-location in Aurora in late 2027 9.

In May the company said the physical co-location offering in Aurora will continue through the end of the market migrations in 2028 8. A decision on the physical co-location site is due no later than the end of 2028 8.

The board approved the leadership change on 16 June 2026 4. Duffy is to become Executive Chairman after the changeover and serve through 31 December 2027 4. The company said it would search for a new finance chief 4.

On 9 September the company named Jack Tobin, its chief accounting officer since 2015, to take the finance chief post in March 2027 5. Matthew Render, who joined in August 2026, is to succeed him as chief accounting officer from 2 November 2026 5.

Chief operating officer Suzanne Sprague said on the first-quarter results call that the goal is to go live with tokenized cash at the clearing house by the end of the year 10. The 10-K says SPAN 2 margining has been implemented for energy and equity products, with interest rates, FX, agriculture and commodities to follow 1.

The share repurchase program approved in December 2024 allows up to $3.0 billion of Class A common stock to be repurchased 2.