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CME Group: Chicago's futures giant (CME, CBOT, NYMEX)
CME Group 2007; CBOT 1848· Institution or agency
Fact, law or dataA rule, statute, definition or measured number.
The largest US futures exchange group, formed in 2007, running the CME, CBOT, NYMEX and COMEX markets in Chicago and New York.
See it on the Money & Finance map →How it works
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (1898, born as a butter-and-egg market) merged with the Chicago Board of Trade (1848) in 2007 and bought NYMEX, including the COMEX metals market, in 2008. It lists futures and options on interest rates, Treasuries, stock indexes, oil, gold, grains and bitcoin. Average daily volume hit a record 28.1 million contracts in 2025, half of it interest-rate products. Its clearing house guarantees every trade. Trading is now almost entirely electronic, on the Globex platform.
Why it matters
Its prices set global benchmarks for rates, oil, metals and grains, and its fed funds futures power the FedWatch odds of Fed moves that markets quote daily.
Facts, rules and data
CME Group annual reports and monthly volume releases, CFTC oversight records, and histories of the currency futures launched under Leo Melamed in 1972.
Debates and risks
Whether one dominant exchange and clearing house concentrates too much risk, and how 24-hour and crypto-style trading platforms will compete with it.
Connections (3)
▸CME Group: Chicago's futures giant (CME, CBOT, NYMEX) runs the largest US market in Futures contractsFact, law or data
The connection
CME Group runs the exchanges where most US futures trade: CBOT for grains and Treasuries, CME for rates, stock indexes and currencies, NYMEX for energy, COMEX for metals. Its clearing house stands between buyer and seller, collects daily margin and guarantees performance, which makes standardized futures trusted worldwide.
When and why
Chicago and New York; CBOT's first standardized grain futures date to 1865, and trading moved mostly onto the electronic Globex platform by the 2010s.
How we know
CME monthly volume data, CFTC oversight of CME's exchanges as designated contract markets, and Futures Industry Association rankings.
Debates and risks
Whether CME's near-monopoly in key US futures keeps fees high, and whether new rivals can compete, is debated.
▸CME Group: Chicago's futures giant (CME, CBOT, NYMEX) trades the futures that forecast SOFR: the benchmark rate that replaced LIBORFact, law or data
The connection
Each SOFR futures contract pays off on average SOFR over a future three-month period, so its price shows what traders expect rates to be. CME uses those prices to calculate Term SOFR, the one- and three-month forward rates that most floating-rate CRE loans and swaps quote, as in 'one-month Term SOFR plus 2.5%.'
When and why
CME launched SOFR futures in May 2018 and began publishing CME Term SOFR in April 2021; regulators' rate committee endorsed it that July.
How we know
CME Term SOFR methodology documents, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee's 2021 recommendation, and loan documents referencing it.
Debates and risks
Regulators limited Term SOFR use in derivatives to protect the futures market it is built from; whether that circularity is a risk is debated.
▸WTI and Brent: the oil price benchmarks on NYMEX and ICE are traded partly on NYMEX, owned by CME Group: Chicago's futures giant (CME, CBOT, NYMEX)Fact, law or data
The connection
WTI futures trade mainly on NYMEX, which CME Group bought in 2008, and rank with Brent as the world's two most-traded crude contracts. Brent trades mainly on rival ICE, though CME lists a Brent contract too. Producers, airlines and refiners hedge on these exchanges, and their prices settle physical oil deals.
When and why
New York's NYMEX launched crude futures in March 1983; CME Group acquired NYMEX in August 2008.
How we know
CME and ICE volume statistics, exchange contract specifications, and CFTC Commitments of Traders reports.
Debates and risks
Whether speculative trading, rather than physical supply and demand, sometimes drives oil prices too far is debated.