CME Group Sets New Daily Volume Record of 67.1 Million Contracts, Driven by Interest Rate and U.S. Treasury Markets

Rhea-AI Summary

CME Group achieved a historic milestone on February 25, 2025, setting a new single-day volume record of 67.1 million contracts, surpassing the previous record of 66.2 million from March 2023. The record was primarily driven by exceptional performance in interest rate markets, with new daily records including:

• Interest Rate futures and options: 50.9 million contracts
• U.S. Treasury futures and options: 40.6 million contracts
• 2-Year U.S. Treasury Note futures: 6.5 million contracts
• Ultra 10-Year U.S. Treasury Note futures: 4.0 million contracts
• U.S. Treasury Bond futures: 2.8 million contracts

CEO Terry Duffy highlighted that investors are increasingly utilizing CME's derivatives for portfolio protection, benefiting from $60 billion in capital efficiencies across asset classes, including $20 billion in daily margin savings in interest rates.

Positive

• Record-breaking daily trading volume of 67.1M contracts
• New records in multiple Treasury product categories
• $60B in capital efficiencies across asset classes
• $20B daily margin savings in interest rates
• Strong market position in risk management solutions

Negative

• High trading volume suggests market uncertainty and volatility

Insights

Financial Market Analyst

CME Group has shattered its previous trading volume record with 67.1 million contracts traded on February 25, 2025, exceeding its March 2023 record by 1.3%. This milestone was primarily fueled by extraordinary activity in interest rate derivatives, which accounted for 76% of the total volume with 50.9 million contracts.

The record-breaking activity in U.S. Treasury futures signals significant market repositioning amid changing interest rate expectations. With 40.7 million Treasury contracts traded, investors are clearly seeking hedging instruments in response to monetary policy uncertainty. The exceptional volume in 2-Year Treasury Note futures particularly suggests heightened concerns about near-term Federal Reserve decisions.

For CME, this translates directly to revenue growth through transaction and clearing fees, which typically represent over 80% of the company's revenue stream. The $20 billion in daily margin savings highlighted by CEO Terry Duffy represents a compelling value proposition that strengthens CME's competitive moat against rivals like Intercontinental Exchange and Nasdaq.

This volume surge demonstrates CME's critical infrastructure role during periods of market stress. The company's ability to handle such massive transaction loads without system issues showcases its technological resilience and capacity management capabilities. For investors, this reinforces CME's position as a beneficiary of market volatility rather than a victim of it.

The timing of this record is particularly noteworthy as it coincides with evolving market narratives around inflation persistence and potential shifts in central bank policy. This suggests institutional investors and proprietary trading firms are actively recalibrating their fixed income exposures, which could signal broader portfolio realignments across asset classes in coming weeks.

CHICAGO, Feb. 26, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today reported it reached a new, single-day volume record of 67,124,571 contracts traded on February 25. This surpasses the previous record of 66,256,756 contracts set on March 13, 2023.

The company also hit new daily volume records in its deeply liquid interest rate complex on February 25:

• Interest Rate futures and options – 50,924,122 contracts
• U.S. Treasury futures and options – 40,664,890 contracts
• 2-Year U.S. Treasury Note futures – 6,543,368 contracts
• Ultra 10-Year U.S. Treasury Note futures – 4,076,504 contracts
• U.S. Treasury Bond futures – 2,831,906 contracts

"Amid heightened uncertainty, market participants are turning to CME Group's deeply liquid futures and options, resulting in new records for our overall volume, interest rate complex and U.S. Treasury markets," said CME Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Terry Duffy. "As investors seek to protect their portfolios, CME Group remains focused on providing innovative risk management solutions and $60 billion in unparalleled capital efficiencies across asset classes, including $20 billion in daily margin savings in interest rates alone."

CME Group provides the market's leading tools for managing risk across the entire yield curve with U.S. Treasuries, SOFR, Fed Funds, €STR and credit products. For more information, please visit www.cmegroup.com/rates.

As the world's leading derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) enables clients to trade futures, options, cash and OTC markets, optimize portfolios, and analyze data – empowering market participants worldwide to efficiently manage risk and capture opportunities. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural products and metals. The company offers futures and options on futures trading through the CME Globex platform, fixed income trading via BrokerTec and foreign exchange trading on the EBS platform. In addition, it operates one of the world's leading central counterparty clearing providers, CME Clearing. 

CME Group, the Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Globex, and E-mini are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. CBOT and Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc. BrokerTec is a trademark of BrokerTec Americas LLC and EBS is a trademark of EBS Group LTD. The S&P 500 Index is a product of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC ("S&P DJI"). "S&P®", "S&P 500®", "SPY®", "SPX®", US 500 and The 500 are trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC; Dow Jones®, DJIA® and Dow Jones Industrial Average are service and/or trademarks of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. These trademarks have been licensed for use by Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. Futures contracts based on the S&P 500 Index are not sponsored, endorsed, marketed, or promoted by S&P DJI, and S&P DJI makes no representation regarding the advisability of investing in such products. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

CME-G

 

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/cme-group-sets-new-daily-volume-record-of-67-1-million-contracts-driven-by-interest-rate-and-us-treasury-markets-302386157.html

SOURCE CME Group

FAQ

What new trading volume record did CME Group set on February 25, 2025?

CME Group set a new single-day volume record of 67.1 million contracts, exceeding the previous record of 66.2 million from March 2023.

How many contracts were traded in CME's Interest Rate futures and options on February 25, 2025?

CME's Interest Rate futures and options reached 50.9 million contracts traded on February 25, 2025.

What is the daily margin savings CME offers in interest rates trading?

CME Group provides $20 billion in daily margin savings specifically in interest rates trading.

How much capital efficiency does CME Group provide across asset classes?

CME Group offers $60 billion in capital efficiencies across all asset classes.

What was the trading volume for U.S. Treasury futures and options at CME on February 25, 2025?

CME's U.S. Treasury futures and options reached 40.6 million contracts traded on February 25, 2025.