By Townhall Chicago News Staff
Chicago-based CME Group on Tuesday reported a record average daily volume of 30 million contracts in October, a 15 percent increase over the same month last year, when the previous record of 26.3 million contracts was set.
The milestone underscores Chicago’s continued role as a global hub for derivatives trading and reflects heightened market activity during a period of elevated volatility ahead of the midterm elections.
The company set October records across four of its seven asset classes: interest rates, equity indexes, energy and agricultural products, according to a Nov. 3 press release.
Interest rate products led all categories with average daily volume of 14.8 million contracts, a 28 percent increase from October 2025. U.S. Treasury futures and options surged 48 percent to 9.2 million contracts, driven by sharp increases in 10-Year Treasury Note futures (up 58 percent), 5-Year Treasury Note futures (up 50 percent) and 2-Year Treasury Note futures (up 51 percent).
Equity index products posted average daily volume of 8.8 million contracts, up 15 percent. Micro E-Mini Nasdaq-100 futures jumped 74 percent to 2.9 million contracts. Micro equity index products accounted for half of all equity index volume during the month, according to the release.
Energy products averaged 2.7 million contracts daily, up 1 percent, while agricultural products rose 7 percent to 2.1 million contracts. Corn futures climbed 21 percent to 478,000 contracts.
Foreign exchange and metals products rounded out the asset classes, with FX averaging 985,000 contracts and metals at 805,000 contracts. Cryptocurrency products averaged 145,000 contracts, representing $7.85 billion in notional value.
International trading activity also grew. Average daily volume outside the United States rose 9 percent to 9 million contracts. Volume in Europe, the Middle East and Africa increased 7 percent to 6.3 million contracts, and Asia-Pacific volume climbed 15 percent to 2.3 million contracts.
CME Group’s BrokerTec platform, which handles fixed-income trading, posted an 18 percent increase in overall average daily notional value to $1.127 trillion. U.S. repo trading hit a record $419.5 billion, and U.S. Treasury cash trading surged 50 percent to $120 billion, according to the release.
The October results follow what CME Group has described as its highest third-quarter revenue on record for the July-through-September period. CME Group Chairman and CEO Terry Duffy discussed those results in recent media appearances, pointing to geopolitical uncertainty as a driver of risk management demand.
CME Group operates futures and options exchanges across all major asset classes, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the Chicago Board of Trade, the New York Mercantile Exchange and the Commodity Exchange. Detailed monthly market statistics are available on the company’s investor relations website.
Source: CME Group Media Room
