CME Group posted record third-quarter revenue of $1.74 billion even as cryptocurrency trading slowed from the previous quarter, separating the exchange’s companywide earnings growth from its crypto activity.
Revenue for the quarter ended Sept. 30 totaled $1.7373 billion, up from $1.5376 billion in the same period of 2025. It exceeded a $1.71 billion pre-release estimate. The result was CME’s highest revenue for any third quarter.
Adjusted diluted earnings reached $3.02 per share, compared with $2.68 a year earlier and a $2.98 pre-release estimate. Clearing and transaction fees generated $1.3781 billion, while market data and information services brought in $243.1 million.
Trading across CME’s markets averaged 29.4 million contracts
Trading across CME’s markets averaged 29.4 million contracts a day, up 16% from the third quarter of 2025. “Our average daily volume reached 29.4 million contracts, the highest Q3 ADV on record,” CME Group Chairman and CEO Terry Duffy said.
Cryptocurrency trading moved in the opposite direction from the preceding quarter. It averaged 196,000 contracts a day in the third quarter, down from 250,000 in the second. Daily notional value, a measure of the value represented by those contracts, fell to $7.3 billion from $13.7 billion over the same period.
The comparisons use different starting points: the increase across CME’s markets is measured against the third quarter of 2025, while the crypto decline is measured against the second quarter of 2026. CME’s revenue covers its broader derivatives business, and it reports cryptocurrency trading volume separately in its market statistics.
