CME Group first traditional exchange to pledge 24-7 trading

The Chicago-based group, which is home to the main regulated cryptocurrency derivatives market, said on Thursday it plans to start trading its cryptocurrency futures and options 24-7 in “early 2026 pending regulatory review”.

"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," said Tim McCourt, global head of Equities, FX and Alternative Products at CME Group. "Ensuring that our regulated cryptocurrency markets are always on will enable clients to trade with confidence at any time."

The US group said its cryptocurrency futures and options will trade continuously on CME Globex with at least a two-hour weekly maintenance period over the weekend.

CME also said all holiday or weekend trading will have a trade date of the following business day, with clearing, settlement and regulatory reporting taking place on the following day also.

This is a major step for CME Group and the other traditional, regulated exchanges which currently trade in the week fewer than 24 hours each day with no trading on the weekends, unlike the offshore crypto-native markets that trade 24-7.

The pledge to go 24-7 by CME will likely set a precedent for other regulated crypto derivatives markets keen to establish themselves as the natural homes to institutional firms seeking crypto exposure.

CME is the home of regulated and cleared cryptocurrency derivatives. The group’s micro bitcoin future is the most popular crypto derivative traded on a traditional, regulated exchange.

That contract traded 11.7 million lots in the first eight months of this year, according to FOW Data, which was up 88.7% on the same period last year.

Traditional and crypto-native exchange leaders clashed on Monday over the extent to which the new breed of venue operators should be exempt from US regulation.