Derek Sammann, senior managing director and global head of commodities markets at CME Group, said that with the continued volatility in global commodity markets brought on by the US-Iran war, CME Group's products have seen record volumes and open interest in past weeks.

CME Group saw a record average daily volume of 41.1 million contracts a day in March, up 33% compared to March 2025, while open interest in March increased about 11% year on year. The group also saw a quarterly record of 36.2 million contracts in Q1, up 22% year-over-year.

"The record numbers reflect the need for risk management tools during times of stress across geographies," said Sammann (pictured). "Customers are actively managing their exposure rather than sitting on their hands and recoiling."

CME Group has seen strong growth across all customer segments in APAC, including buyside, sellside, intermediaries, end users as well as retail.

APAC average daily volume grew to an all-time high of 2.6 million contracts in Q1 2026, up 33% year-on-year. This was driven by new average daily volume records in commodities products, with metals up 204%, energy up 101%, and agricultural products up 22%.

"With the US being a major supplier of energy, especially since the onset of the US-Iran war, CME Group has added commercial energy trading customers that are looking to follow the physical flow of crude oil and natural gas to manage risk as well as institutional customers that are adding commodities exposure to their portfolios," said Sammann.

Micro products for CME Group’s energy and metals product suite have seen substantial growth during March as the contracts are more "right-sized appropriate in highly volatile markets". Micro energy futures accounted for 13% of overall energy ADV and micro metals futures accounted for 60% of overall metals ADV.

The growth of options products for commodities has also outpaced futures as they offer more flexibility to customers for their risk management needs.

Looking ahead at its APAC growth strategy, Sammann said that CME Group will continue to globalise the adoption of its markets by investing in technology and working with its distribution partners such as Webull and Robinhood to improve pricing and data access. Key to this growth will be expanding the pipeline of customers to trade in regional timezones.

As for China, which is gradually opening up its local commodities exchanges to international investors, Sammann believes that the move is positive for the overall market but the path to allow for outbound derivatives trading for Chinese participants will be key to broaden the market and encourage fair access to manage risk.

The Chicago-based exchange’s international quarterly ADV reached record levels across multiple asset classes, reflecting rising hedging demand.

CME Group plans to introduce futures contracts linked to Avalanche and Sui, expanding its cryptocurrency derivatives offering.