CME Group Touts Record Futures Volume as Global Uncertainty Fuels Trading, Retail Growth

Derivatives exchange highlights vertically integrated clearing model, international expansion, and growing non-transactional revenue streams

Published on Mar. 8, 2026

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CME Group executive Derek Sammann told investors that the derivatives exchange is benefiting from heightened global uncertainty, rising participation outside the U.S., and increasing demand from newer retail traders, while continuing to lean on its vertically integrated clearing model and growing non-transactional revenue streams.

Why it matters

As one of the world’s largest derivatives exchanges, CME Group’s performance and growth strategies provide insights into the broader trends shaping the global financial markets, including the impact of macroeconomic uncertainty, the rise of retail investing, and the competitive advantages of vertically integrated exchange-clearing models.

The details

Sammann highlighted CME’s role in providing benchmark futures and options markets and risk management through its clearinghouse, as well as the company’s strategic partnership with Google to build cloud capabilities. He emphasized CME’s vertically integrated model, which he said provides both offensive and defensive advantages, high barriers to entry, and high switching costs for customers. Reviewing recent performance, Sammann cited record average daily volume, growing non-U.S. business, and an expanding suite of micro-sized contracts aimed at retail participants.

  • CME traded 45 million contracts 'yesterday', which Sammann linked to increased risk and uncertainty.
  • In the fourth quarter of the prior year, roughly 47% of CME's foreign exchange and metals business came from outside the U.S.

The players

Derek Sammann

CME Group's head of Commodities Markets.

CME Group

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.

Google

A strategic partner of CME Group, with a billion-dollar stake in the company aimed at building cloud capabilities and supporting migration efforts.

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What they’re saying

“We must not let individuals continue to damage private property in San Francisco.”

— Robert Jenkins, San Francisco resident (San Francisco Chronicle)

The takeaway

CME Group's strong performance, driven by factors like global uncertainty, retail investor growth, and its vertically integrated model, underscores the exchange's pivotal role in the evolving financial markets landscape and its ability to adapt to changing conditions.