Tanzeel Akhtar is a seasoned journalist who has been reporting on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology since 2015. Her work has appeared in leading publications including The Wall Street Journal,…
CME Group, the leading derivatives marketplace, announced today that its cryptocurrency futures and options products will be available for trading 24 hours a day, seven days a week, starting in early 2026, subject to regulatory review.
The move reflects growing client demand for round-the-clock risk management in a market that operates without pause.
Responding to Client Demand
Tim McCourt, global head of equities, FX, and alternative products at CME Group, emphasized the importance of aligning regulated markets with the pace of the digital asset sector.
“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,” he said. “Ensuring that our regulated cryptocurrency markets are always on will enable clients to trade with confidence at any time.”
Continuous Trading with Safeguards
CME’s cryptocurrency futures and options will trade continuously on the CME Globex platform, with only a two-hour weekly maintenance pause scheduled over the weekend.
To maintain operational consistency, any trading conducted over weekends or holidays will be assigned the following business day as the official trade date, with clearing, settlement, and regulatory reporting also processed on the next business day.
Record Activity in 2025
CME reports that the expansion of trading hours follows a year of record growth in CME’s cryptocurrency derivatives complex. In September 2025, notional open interest reached a high of $39 billion.
August recorded an average daily open interest of 335,200 contracts, up 95% year-on-year and representing $31.6 billion in notional value. Average daily trading volume that month also surged to 411,000 contracts, a 230 percent increase from the prior year, equivalent to $14.9 billion in notional value.
By late September, CME counted more than 1,010 large open interest holders across its cryptocurrency products, showing a sharp rise in institutional engagement.
Expanding the Derivatives Market
CME Group said it already offers a broad range of benchmark products across major asset classes, including interest rates, equities, foreign exchange, energy, agriculture, metals, and digital assets.
Its ecosystem spans CME Globex for futures and options, BrokerTec for fixed income, and EBS for foreign exchange, all supported by CME Clearing, one of the world’s largest central counterparty clearing providers.
By bringing its cryptocurrency products into a continuous trading cycle, CME is reflecting the growing maturity of digital assets while strengthening its role as a bridge between traditional finance and the 24/7 nature of the crypto economy.
