CME Group Inc.

Revenue was over $1.7 billion in Q2 2026, up 1% from Q2 2025; adjusted diluted EPS was $2.99, up 1% year over year; adjusted operating income was $1.2 billion with a 69.5% adjusted operating margin; adjusted net income was $1.1 billion with a 63.4% margin. Market data revenue was a record $238 million, up 20% year over year. Average daily volume was 29.8 million contracts, the second-highest Q2 in company history, and open interest ended the quarter up 8% year over year and up 16% since the beginning of the year. For the first half of 2026, volume was 10% ahead of last year, open interest was up 8%, revenue was up 8%, and adjusted diluted EPS was up 10%. July-to-date volumes were tracking 18% ahead of last year. The company returned $1.2 billion to shareholders in the quarter, including $468 million in dividends and $695 million in share repurchases.

Terry Duffy framed the quarter as evidence that CME’s core institutional franchise remains strong, citing 29.8 million average daily volume, 94% institutional participation through the first half and record capital efficiencies of over $95 billion in margin savings per day. He spent much of his remarks arguing that perpetual futures are leveraged spot-like products that do not provide the price or time certainty institutional hedgers need, and said CME has not heard customer demand for them. At the same time, he emphasized an active product pipeline, including 24/7 crypto and gold trading, single-stock futures, Treasury Link and compute futures.

Lynne Fitzpatrick highlighted the hard numbers: revenue of over $1.7 billion, adjusted operating income of $1.2 billion, adjusted operating margin of 69.5%, adjusted net income of $1.1 billion and adjusted diluted EPS of $2.99. She noted adjusted expenses of $521 million, or $412 million excluding license fees, and said market data revenue was a record $238 million, up 20%, with 33 consecutive quarters of year-over-year growth. She also pointed to $1.2 billion returned to shareholders, including $468 million in dividends and $695 million in buybacks, and said July volumes were tracking 18% ahead of last year.

Most of the Q&A centered on perpetual futures, with analysts asking whether retail demand, crypto competition or potential equity perps could matter. Management repeatedly answered that CME’s customers, especially institutional hedgers, do not want perpetuals because the funding-rate and auto-liquidation mechanics make them unsuitable for risk management, while Tim McCourt cited much larger crypto volumes and open interest at CME than at a competing perp product. On equity perps, Terry Duffy argued they would likely be swaps, could pose systemic risk through funding-rate and liquidation mechanics, and would raise intellectual-property issues around CME’s index licenses. Other questions focused on market data growth, where management cited pricing, professional subscribers, derived data, simulation accounts and non-recurring audit catch-up payments, and on prediction markets, where CME said sports-related contracts are more like gambling and that monetizing prediction-market data is still early.