CME Group, the leading derivatives marketplace, will allow cryptocurrency futures and options trading 24 hours a day, seven days a week beginning in early 2026, pending regulatory review.
Specifically, CME Group cryptocurrency futures and options will trade continuously on CME Globex with at least a two-hour weekly maintenance period over the weekend. All holiday or weekend trading from Friday evening through Sunday night will have a trade date of the following business day, with clearing, settlement and regulatory reporting processed the following business day as well.
“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,” Tim McCourt, global head of equities, FX and alternative products at CME Group, said. “Ensuring that our regulated cryptocurrency markets are always on will enable clients to trade with confidence at any time.”
Cryptocurrency futures and options have hit record volumes at CME Group this year. Among the highlights, CME saw record notional open interest of $39 billion on September 18. Notional open interest is the total value of all derivatives contracts that haven’t been settled or closed out yet.
It also reported record August average daily open interest of 335,200 contracts, up 95 percent year over year. It represents an average $31.6B notional. Further, it had record August ADV of 411,000 contracts, up 230 percent year over year and representing $14.9 billion notional. In addition, it saw more than 1,010 large open interest holders across cryptocurrency products during the week of Sept. 25.