CME Group, the world’s largest regulated derivatives marketplace, announced plans to begin 24-hour, seven-day-a-week trading of its cryptocurrency futures and options contracts on May 29, 2026, pending regulatory review.
Summary
- Pending regulatory approval, crypto products will move to a 24/7 schedule on the CME Globex platform, with only a brief weekly window for maintenance.
- The shift follows a massive 2025 where CME saw $3 trillion in notional activity, driven by professional traders seeking regulated risk-management tools.
- Beyond Bitcoin and Ether, CME recently broadened its reach by launching futures for Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK), and Stellar (XLM).
CME Group adopts 24/7 crypto trading as competition heats up
The decision marks a significant step in aligning regulated digital-asset derivatives with the continuous nature of global crypto spot markets.
Under the new schedule, CME’s cryptocurrency products will trade continuously on its CME Globex platform, with a brief weekly maintenance window. Any trading conducted from Friday evening through Sunday evening will receive the following business day’s trade date for clearing, settlement and reporting.
CME said that client demand for regulated crypto risk-management tools is at an historic high, driven by record volumes in 2025 when its crypto futures and options saw $3 trillion in notional activity. Average daily volume and open interest have both climbed sharply year-over-year in 2026, underlining robust participation from institutional and professional traders.
The expansion builds on CME’s broader push into digital assets. In early February, the exchange successfully launched futures contracts for Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK) and Stellar (XLM), including both standard and micro sizes, broadening its altcoin derivatives lineup beyond Bitcoin and Ether. Market participants have viewed this as a key step in giving regulated access to a wider range of crypto assets.
However, CME’s push to modernize its markets has faced operational challenges. In November 2025 a cooling-system failure at a CyrusOne data center triggered a major outage that halted futures trading across cryptocurrencies, commodities, equities and FX, highlighting infrastructure risks as trading demand intensifies.
As crypto continues its integration into mainstream finance, round-the-clock regulated trading at CME could help close the gap between always-on digital markets and traditional exchange hours — offering traders more flexibility and risk management options around the clock.
