CME Group (NASDAQ:CME) executives said 2025 was the “most successful year” in the company’s history, highlighting record volumes across major asset classes, accelerating growth in market data, and new initiatives ranging from securities clearing to retail-focused event contracts and expanded cryptocurrency trading.
Record volume across asset classes and international markets
Chairman and CEO Terry Duffy said 2025 marked the company’s fifth consecutive year of record volume, with average daily volume (ADV) up 6% to 2,128.1 million contracts. He said the growth was broad-based, with all-time records in interest rates, energy, metals, agriculture, and cryptocurrency.
Management also emphasized capital efficiencies delivered to customers through cross-margining. Duffy said average daily margin savings reached $80 billion in the most recent quarter across six asset classes, about $20 billion higher than a year earlier.
New clearing and cross-margin initiatives
Duffy said CME received U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approval in December for CME Securities Clearing and is “on track” to launch the new clearing house later in 2026 ahead of the SEC’s U.S. Treasury clearing mandate.
On cross-margining with DTCC’s Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC), executives said they are working to extend CME-FICC cross-margining to end-user clients in early 2026, which they believe could unlock additional capital efficiencies. In the Q&A, management clarified that while the CFTC has approved certain elements, expansion to clients is still dependent on further approval. Sunil Cutinho said the program is operationally ready and has been running since 2024 with 18 firms participating, producing record savings of about $1.5 billion for those firms.
When asked about collateral impacts from Treasury and repo clearing and cross-margining, management said it was difficult to forecast, but argued that bringing more products into the margin pool should reinforce the value proposition by freeing up client capital. Duffy added that CME’s arrangement with FICC and the growth in offsets there is a key focus.
Retail expansion: event contracts, micro products, and precious metals
CME highlighted momentum from a December launch of event contracts spanning financial and commodity products, economic indicators, and sports. Duffy said more than 68 million event contracts traded in the first six weeks after launch, including more than 7 million “markets-related” contracts, and described early results as promising for reaching previously untapped segments.
Retail-oriented products were also a focus. Duffy said micro products rose 59% in the fourth quarter to a record 4.4 million contracts per day. He also cited traction in smaller-sized precious metals offerings, including the 1-ounce gold contract launched in 2025, which averaged 66,000 contracts per day in Q4. He said CME plans to launch a 100-ounce silver contract the following week.
In response to questions about customer health amid elevated volatility and margin changes in metals, Duffy said open interest was around 125 million open positions and argued that margin changes in silver did not harm participation. Derek Sammann added that client segments were growing, including double-digit growth in institutional participation, with open interest steady to increasing across futures and options.
Cryptocurrency growth and 24/7 trading plans
Management said cryptocurrency was a record-breaking area in 2025. Duffy reported Q4 crypto ADV of 379,000 contracts, up 92%, representing more than $13 billion in notional value traded per day. He said that strength continued into early 2026.
CME also outlined expansion plans for its crypto suite, including new Cardano, Chainlink, and Stellar futures launching Feb. 9. Duffy said the company will begin offering 24/7 trading for its entire crypto suite next quarter, enabling customers to hedge exposure to underlying cash markets that trade over weekends. He added that CME would evaluate whether other asset classes may also benefit from 24/7 trading over time.
Financial results, pricing changes, and 2026 outlook
Chief Financial Officer Lynne Fitzpatrick said CME delivered its fourth consecutive year of record revenues and adjusted net income in 2025. Revenue totaled $6.5 billion, up 6% versus 2024, with annual revenue records in five of six asset classes. Market data revenue surpassed $800 million for the first time, up 13%, which management said marked the 31st consecutive quarter of market data growth.
For the fourth quarter, Fitzpatrick reported:
- Revenue of $1.65 billion, up 8% year over year
- Average rate per contract of $0.707, with clearing and transaction fees of $1.3 billion, up 8%
- Market data revenue up 15% to a record $208 million
- Adjusted operating income of $1.1 billion and a 67% operating margin
- Adjusted effective tax rate of 23.7%
- Adjusted diluted EPS of $1.0277, up 10% from Q4 2024
Fitzpatrick said cash ended the quarter at about $4.6 billion, including $1.3 billion in remaining OSTTRA proceeds. She said the board approved using those proceeds toward share repurchases over time, noting $256 million in repurchases during Q4 and an additional $276 million repurchased so far in 2026. CME paid $455 million in dividends in Q4 and about $3.9 billion in 2025. The company said its annual variable dividend will be declared next week, aligned with the first-quarter regular dividend timetable.
On pricing, management said market data fees increased 3.5% on Jan. 1 across most products, and transaction fee changes will take effect April 1. Fitzpatrick said, in aggregate, the fee adjustments and incentive program revisions are expected to increase total revenue by about 1% to 1.5% on similar activity levels to 2025. Executives said CME will evaluate transaction fees on a regular basis going forward rather than concentrating updates in December.
For 2026 guidance, Fitzpatrick said CME expects total adjusted operating expenses excluding license fees of approximately $1.695 billion, reflecting core expense growth and reinvestment in initiatives including 24/7 crypto trading, securities clearing, and event contracts. The company guided to about $85 million in capital expenditures and an adjusted effective tax rate of 23.5% to 24.5%.
Executives also provided an update on CME’s Google Cloud migration. Cutinho said the non-ultra-low-latency migration is expected to complete early in 2026, while Google’s purpose-built Chicago region for ultra-low-latency markets remains on plan, with client testing expected in 2027. Fitzpatrick said cloud-related spending was about $29 million in Q4 and around $100 million for the full year, adding that it is becoming harder to separate cloud costs from base expenses as on-premises expenses roll off.
Closing the call, Duffy said January delivered new volume records, and he reiterated the company’s strategic roadmap for 2026, including the securities clearing launch, expanded event contracts, and 24/7 trading in crypto.
About CME Group (NASDAQ:CME)
CME Group Inc is a global markets company that operates some of the world’s largest and most liquid derivatives exchanges, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and COMEX. The firm offers futures and options contracts across a broad range of asset classes — including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities and metals — and serves a diverse client base of institutional investors, commercial hedgers, brokers and retail participants.
The company’s core services include electronic trading on the CME Globex platform, central clearing through CME Clearing, and distribution of market data, indexes and analytics.
