CME Posts Record Q3 Revenue Despite Lower Daily Trading Volume

CME Group handled fewer futures and options contracts per day in Q3 than in Q2, but more over the quarter as a whole, helping it post its highest third-quarter revenue on record. The average amount earned per contract barely changed, rising only slightly from $0.678 to $0.679.

The difference between lower daily activity and higher quarterly revenue largely reflects the calendar. Q3 contained 64 trading days, two more than Q2. Based on CME's reported average daily volume, approximately 1.88 billion futures and options contracts traded during Q3, up from around 1.85 billion in the previous quarter.

Revenue Sources

Clearing and transaction fees, CME's main revenue source, rose nearly 2% to $1.38 billion. That was close to the estimated increase in futures and options contracts traded, although the fee figure also includes cash-market activity through EBS and BrokerTec and is not directly interchangeable with contract volume.

Beyond transaction fees, revenue from data and information services rose by $5 million from Q2 to a record $243 million. That was 20% above Q3 2025. The mix of contracts changed even though the overall rate remained nearly flat. Interest-rate average daily volume rose from 14.5 million to 15.1 million contracts, while equity-index ADV declined from 8.6 million to 7.7 million.

New Products

CME Group launched several contracts during the quarter, extending its product range from smaller positions for retail traders to new ways for institutions to trade credit exposure. On August 24, the exchange introduced E-nano futures on four US equity indices. At one-tenth the size of Micro E-minis, they reduce the minimum exposure needed to trade the S&P 500, Nasdaq-100, Russell 2000 and Dow Jones benchmarks.

CME then began trading futures linked to the S&P UBS USD Liquid Leveraged Loan Index on September 14. These give institutions an exchange-traded alternative for managing leveraged-loan exposure, with potential margin offsets against other positions cleared at CME. The contract joins CME's wider credit futures suite, where open interest exceeded $2 billion in September.

Future Revenue

Beyond new contract listings, CME plans to begin clearing cash Treasury transactions and repos on December 7. The service would expand its post-trade business ahead of the SEC's central-clearing mandate. Most of the new contracts arrived late in Q3, and CME has not disclosed their revenue contribution.

Transaction-fee changes took effect on October 1; CME estimates they would add 0.5% to 1% to clearing and transaction fees on a full-year basis at similar activity levels. Their effect will first appear in Q4 results, giving readers another factor to weigh alongside trading volume and the number of trading days.