ANALYSIS: BGC ‘happy’ with progress of US Treasury futures amid results record

BGC on Thursday reported a second consecutive revenue record for the three months to the end of June, with growth across the US group's brokerage and trading platform businesses.

Speaking as the New York-based firm presented results to analysts, co-chief executive John Abularrage said the firm is comfortable with the progress of its US Treasury futures market since these products were listed on its FMX venue in May.

“We are happy with how the interest in UST futures is going, we obviously get the benefit of seeing the work that is going on in the background,” Abularrage said on the call.

BGC's FMX platform went live with three-month Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) futures in September last year before adding US Treasury futures in May.

“There are no additional impediment or speed bumps and I think you will see US Treasury futures follow the success of SOFR futures which follows the success of the cash platform ... so very comfortable with where we are.”

FMX US Treasury futures, which consist of two and five-year notes, traded 31 contracts last month, according to FOW Data.

The SOFR contracts listed on FMX Futures have hit recent records, with second quarter average daily volume (ADV) of 3,200 lots, and open interest of 21,600 contracts at the end of June.

BGC's cash treasury platform FMX UST hit record volume in the second quarter of $68 billion (£51.4 bn), a year-on-year increase in ADV of 45%, giving the firm an estimated 35% market share, according to BGC figures.

“We are very happy with where we are today … we have record volumes on SOFR and increasing open interest,” JP Aubin, co-chief executive of BGC, said in response to an analyst question. “That is way ahead of expectations, along with growing SOFR product, volume and open interest, we work every day with our clients.

“It remains our main priority, and we are now near the end of the connectivity process with our equity partners which will allow them to engage with the platform successfully in a meaningful way.”

The firm also expects to have onboarded its full cohort of Futures Commission Merchants (FCMs) by the end of the year.

“On the FCM side, we are at nine… and I am pretty comfortable saying that by year-end we will have 12 on which will give us the vast majority of customer assets once that’s done,” Abularrage added. “So it's just a timing issue… we are completely comfortable with where we are with the FCMs as well.”

BGC reported second quarter revenue of $784 million, up 42% year-over-year. Most of this was made up by brokerage revenues rising 46% to $720m, where rates revenue increased 21% to $200.6m.

Energy, commodities and shipping (ECS) revenue improved 122% to a record $261.6m in the period, largely down to the acquisition of OTC Global in April. Excluding those additional revenues, the segment grew 27%.

Foreign exchange (FX) revenue was up 22% to a record $109m, while equities revenue rose 44% in the period to $73.9m.

Fenics, the market data and trading platform business, returned $163 million in the second quarter, 19% higher than the same period in 2024.

“We continue to gain market share in the ECS and financial markets with strong growth across all asset classes and geographies,” Sean Windeatt, co-chief executive at BGC, said on the call. “BGC is now the world's largest ECS broker.”

Derivatives exchanges have booked record revenues as trading activity spiked due to market uncertainty this year.

Rival CME Group earlier this month reported an all-time revenue high in the second quarter of 2025, with a 10% year-over-year boost, led by growth across asset classes due to market volatility.

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) on Thursday reported revenue up a tenth in the second quarter of 2025, the latest exchange to benefit from derivatives hedging activity.

Earlier Thursday, the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) cited continuing market volatility as the UK firm reported a year-on-year boost from its markets division in the second quarter.

Deutsche Boerse last week reported a 4% year-on-year revenue increase in the second quarter, driven by strong performance in its fixed income and commodities trading business.