CME Group, the world’s derivatives marketplace, announced that its cryptocurrency futures and options will be available to trade 24 hours a day, 7 days a week beginning in early 2026, “pending regulatory review.”
Tim McCourt, Global Head of Equities, FX and Alternative Products at CME Group said:
“While not all markets lend themselves to operating 24/7, client demand for around-the-clock cryptocurrency trading has grown as market participants need to manage their risk every day of the week. Ensuring that our regulated cryptocurrency markets are always on will enable clients to trade with confidence at any time.”
Starting early next year (subject to regulatory approval), CME Group cryptocurrency futures and options will aim to trade continuously on CME Globex with at least a 2-hour weekly maintenance period to be carried out during the weekends.
All holiday or weekend trading from Friday evening through Sunday evening will have “a trade date of the following business day, with clearing, settlement and regulatory reporting processed the following business day as well.”
Cryptocurrency futures and options have reached “record volumes at CME Group in 2025.”
Highlights include:
- Record notional open interest of $39 billion on September 18
- Record August average daily open interest of 335,200 contracts, up 95% year on year and representing an average $31.6B notional
- Record August ADV of 411,000 contracts, up 230% year on year and representing $14.9 billion notional
- Record of more than 1,010 large open interest holders across cryptocurrency products the week of September 25
As the world’s derivatives marketplace, CME Group enables clients to trade futures, options, cash and OTC markets, optimize portfolios, and analyze data – allowing market participants to manage risk and avail various opportunities.
CME Group exchanges offer a range of benchmark products across asset classes based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural products, metals and cryptocurrencies.
The company notes that it provides futures and options on futures trading via the CME Globex platform, fixed income trading through BrokerTec and foreign exchange trading on the EBS platform.
In addition, it currently operates one of the world’s central counterparty clearing providers, called CME Clearing.