CME Group handled fewer futures and options contracts per day in Q3 than in Q2, but more over the quarter as a whole. That difference helped it post its highest third-quarter revenue on record, even as the average amount earned per contract barely changed.
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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 ADV, approximately 1.88 billion futures and options contracts traded during Q3, up from around 1.85 billion in the previous quarter.
| Metric | Q2 2026 | Q3 2026 | Quarterly change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.706bn | $1.737bn | +1.8% |
| Clearing and transaction fees | $1.353bn | $1.378bn | +1.9% |
| Futures and options ADV | 29.84m | 29.45m | -1.3% |
| Trading days | 62 | 64 | +2 days |
| Estimated futures and options contracts traded | 1.85bn | 1.88bn | +1.8% |
| Average rate per futures and options contract | $0.678 | $0.679 | Broadly flat |
| Adjusted net income | $1.082bn | $1.084bn | +0.2 |
More Contracts at a Similar Average Rate
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.
The average rate per futures and options contract moved only slightly, from $0.678 to $0.679. It remained below the $0.702 reported in Q3 2025, so a higher average rate did not materially drive the sequential revenue increase.
CME said the small rise from Q2 reflected changes in volume-based discounts and a lower proportion of micro contracts. CME’s earnings commentary.
The mix of contracts changed even though the overall rate remained nearly flat. Interest-rate ADV rose from 14.5 million to 15.1 million contracts, while equity-index ADV declined from 8.6 million to 7.7 million.
Daily volumes in foreign exchange, energy, agriculture and metals were broadly stable or slightly lower. 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.
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New Products and the Next Revenue Test
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. 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.
The quarter’s result is therefore better explained by more trading days and stronger market-data sales than by the new listings.
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.
