CME Group reported a record Q1 2026 with revenue of $1.9B and adjusted EPS of $3.36, driven by all-time high volumes across six asset classes. Management expressed strong confidence for the rest of 2026, highlighting strategic initiatives like cloud migration, cross-margining expansion, tokenization of cash, and successful early traction in prediction markets via the FanDuel partnership. Record Q1 with 36.2 million daily contracts (+22% YoY) and revenue up 14% to $1.9B; adjusted operating margin hit 72.8%.
CME Group reported a record Q1 2026 with revenue of $1.9B and adjusted EPS of $3.36, driven by all-time high volumes across six asset classes. Management expressed strong confidence for the rest of 2026, highlighting strategic initiatives like cloud migration, cross-margining expansion, tokenization of cash, and successful early traction in prediction markets via the FanDuel partnership. Record Q1 with 36.2 million daily contracts (+22% YoY) and revenue up 14% to $1.9B; adjusted operating margin hit 72.8%.
Management emphasized record-breaking results, expressed confidence in future growth, and highlighted strategic initiatives, while also addressing competitive threats with a defensive posture.
Record Q1 with 36.2 million daily contracts (+22% YoY) and revenue up 14% to $1.9B; adjusted operating margin hit 72.8%.
International volume grew 30% to a record 11.4 million contracts, with all asset classes reaching new highs.
Cross-margining agreement with FICC expanded to end-user clients (April 30) expected to deliver margin savings up to 80% on treasury books.
Record Q1 volumes across all asset classes, driven by global expansion.. Management emphasized record-breaking results, expressed confidence in future growth, and highlighted strategic initiatives, while also addressing competitive threats with a defensive posture.
Management discussed ongoing investment in technology and cloud migration, with the Dallas facility opening this summer serving as a testing ground for agricultural products migrating to the cloud. They also noted expected growth in technology expenses as they move more into the cloud environment.
Management emphasized record-breaking results, expressed confidence in future growth, and highlighted strategic initiatives, while also addressing competitive threats with a defensive posture.
“We anticipate the savings can be upward of 80% for the client books, just like we've seen on the house side of the program today.”
“SIM participation was up significantly, and so that is really kind of driving that retail or nonprofessional participation in our market data business.”
“Since then, the actual participation or the distribution of volume towards the market space contracts across equity, crypto, energy, and metals has actually exceeded 30%.”
Bank of Montreal is a settlement bank testing tokenized cash with CME and Google, indicating early adoption of the technology in the clearing ecosystem.
“You may have seen a press release from Bank of Montreal in the last few weeks announcing publicly that they have been working with us and Google on the tokenization project.”
Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking the question. I was just hoping you could update us on your partnership with Google, including tokenizing cash, what the timeframe and key milestones are there, how you see this playing out, and if you could also update us on prospects for CME stablecoin as well.
Yeah, thanks for the questions. So we are working with the settlement banks in our ecosystem as well as clearing members to be able to advance the stages of tokenizing cash. You may have seen a press release from Bank of Montreal in the last few weeks announcing publicly that they have been working with us and Google on the tokenization project. And so the goal there really is to be able to increase the testing capabilities within the settlement bank ecosystem as well as start integrating clearing numbers into that testing process this year with the goal of being able to go live by the end of this year. And, again, the tokenization of cash really, for us, enables movement of value outside of traditional banking hours, especially looking at 24 by 7 trading activity, as Terry mentioned in his opening remark. It's a key component to being able to enable the movement of value in the off hours. as well as allow us to build upon other tokenized assets using the Google Cloud Universal Ledger. On Sablecoin, we also continue progressing that effort with regulatory engagement. And as Terry mentioned there, we are looking to be able to seek a license to be able to issue Sablecoin. And we're exploring technology partners that can help us do that as well. We plan to be able to advance that effort this year, although we can't opine on the regulatory engagement timeline. Happy to have Lynn add anything else as well for Stablecoin.
Prediction market volumes now exceed 220 million contracts with over 30% of volume in market-based (non-sports) contracts since mid-March, validating CME's strategy to use sports distribution for financial products. — Demonstrates that the FanDuel channel is successfully attracting retail traders to CME benchmark products, potentially expanding the addressable market for futures and options.
All right. All very helpful. Thank you. Maybe just a follow-up, maybe sticking with the retail theme. You know, you mentioned in the earnings commentary that on the prediction market side, you've now seen it looks like about 15% of volumes are kind of markets-related. So I'm curious if there's any further details you can share about If you have any visibility, what types of customers are trading those contracts rather than sports? I would imagine all this is happening within your two current FCMs, but just curious what that customer base looks like and maybe any call you can share in terms of the pipeline of potential additional FCMs would be helpful.
Yeah. Thanks, Ben. So when we went live with our prediction markets and event contracts offering back in December, We've seen strong growth, both in terms of adoption and volume, where we've recently surpassed the $220 million contract mark. And then when we look at the participation across those contracts, we started a marketing effort in the middle of March with our partners at FanDuel. And since then, the actual participation or the distribution of volume towards the market space contracts across equity, crypto, energy, and metals has actually exceeded 30%. That's a shift that we're pleased with. And I think it speaks to the attractiveness of the offering where we're looking at attracting these next generation traders to our markets. They're coming in through the apps, through our FCM partners. And they're trading all types of the event contracts, both sports and the market space contracts. And that's something I think that reinforces the value prop of CME, that we have some of the world's leading benchmark products at CME Group. And now we're making them more approachable and more accessible to the individual and next generation trader through the fully funded or fully collateralized event contracts and prediction markets offering at CME Group. I think the other thing that we're pleased to see is since December, we've had over 150,000 new accounts trade at CME Group in these products, which is off to a fantastic start. We're continuing to work with our partners that are currently trading, and we have a pipeline of SMs we're still working to get onboard and offer these products to their end users. So optimistic about the future for the first few good months here at CME Group in our prediction market offering.
Google Cloud is enabling CME's cloud migration and tokenization of cash, with live operations targeted by end of 2026, creating new efficiencies for clients.
“We continue to explore what we could do together with FIC as well as other initiatives that we're pursuing at CME, including the tokenization of cash and our partnership with Google”