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1. It's like the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or NASDAQ, but for futures and options on everything from interest rates to oil.

2. Imagine it also as a crucial financial infrastructure company, similar to how Visa or Mastercard process and guarantee consumer payments, but for trillions of dollars in complex institutional futures and options trades.

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• Exchange Services: CME Group operates markets for trading futures and options on a wide range of asset classes including interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, commodities, and metals.
• Clearing House Services: The company provides clearing, settling, and guaranteeing services for futures, options, and cleared swaps contracts traded through its exchanges.
• Trade Processing and Risk Mitigation Services: CME Group offers services designed to facilitate the processing of trades and to help mitigate associated risks.
• Market Data Services: The company provides real-time and historical market data to its clients.

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CME Group Inc. (CME) serves a diverse range of market participants as its customers. Given its role as an operator of contract markets for futures and options, a clearing house, and a provider of market data, its customers are broadly categorized by the type of entity engaging with its services rather than specific named companies. Its customer base includes:

• Financial Institutions and Institutional Investors: This category encompasses a wide array of entities such as banks, brokerage firms, asset managers, hedge funds, mutual funds, and pension funds. These customers utilize CME's markets for trading, investment, risk management, and portfolio diversification.
• Corporations and Producers: Non-financial corporations, manufacturers, and producers form another key customer segment. They use CME's futures and options markets primarily for hedging purposes, managing exposure to fluctuations in interest rates, foreign exchange, and commodity prices (e.g., energy, agricultural products, metals) that impact their core business operations.
• Professional Traders and Individual Investors: This group includes proprietary trading firms, independent professional traders, and individual investors. They participate in CME's markets for speculative trading, arbitrage, and investment purposes.

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Terrence A. Duffy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Terrence A. Duffy began his career at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in 1980 and founded his own firm, TDA Trading, in 1981, serving as its President until 2002. He has been a CME member since 1981 and a Board member since 1995. Duffy served as Chairman of the Board of CME and CME Holdings from April 2002 and as Executive Chairman from October 2006. He assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer in November 2016. Under his leadership, CME Group underwent significant mergers and acquisitions, including combining with the Chicago Board of Trade in 2007, acquiring the New York Mercantile Exchange in 2008, and NEX in 2018. From 2003 to 2013, he was a member of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB), appointed by President Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

Lynne Fitzpatrick, President and Chief Financial Officer

Lynne Fitzpatrick joined CME Group in 2006 and has held various positions of increasing responsibility within the finance organization. These roles include Senior Managing Director and Deputy Chief Financial Officer, and Managing Director of Corporate Development and Treasurer. She served as Chief Financial Officer since April 2023 and was appointed to the expanded role of President and Chief Financial Officer in November 2024. Prior to her tenure at CME Group, Fitzpatrick worked as an investment banker at Credit Suisse and UBS.

Julie Winkler, Chief Commercial Officer

Julie Winkler started her career at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) in 1996 as a Staff Investigator. She advanced through various roles at CBOT before its merger with CME Group in 2007. She was appointed Chief Commercial Officer of CME Group in 2016. Winkler has been a key figure in product development and innovation, notably contributing to the launch of bitcoin futures contracts and Micro E-mini Equity Index futures. She also played a significant role in the company's 2010 joint venture with Dow Jones & Company.

Suzanne Sprague, Chief Operating Officer and Global Head of Clearing

Suzanne Sprague joined CME Group in 2002 and has held several leadership positions in financial and risk management, including Managing Director, Credit & Liquidity Risk, Risk Policy & Banking. She served as Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Clearing and Post-Trade Services since 2022. In November 2024, she was appointed Chief Operating Officer and Global Head of Clearing.

Sean Tully, Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Financial & OTC Products

Sean Tully joined CME Group in 2011 as Managing Director of Interest Rate Products. Before joining CME Group, he served as Managing Director, Global Head of Credit and Fixed Income Trading at WestLB in London. His experience also includes trading interest rate derivatives at Citibank and Greenwich Capital. He has been the Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Financial & OTC Products since May 2016.

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The key risks to CME Group Inc. (CME) include regulatory changes, cybersecurity threats, and competition combined with market volatility.

1. Regulatory Risk: CME Group operates in a highly regulated environment, and changes in laws or government policies could increase compliance costs and operational burdens. Intensifying regulatory scrutiny on global cross-border derivatives operations threatens to elevate compliance costs and constrain product innovation. The company's dual role as an exchange and a Futures Commission Merchant (FCM) also introduces potential conflicts of interest and raises concerns about fair competition and market stability, which could attract further regulatory attention and potentially compromise impartial enforcement.
2. Cybersecurity Risk: As CME's proprietary technology stack becomes more complex to support record volumes, its exposure to cyber-attacks rises. Any material breach could trigger cascading losses, significant regulatory scrutiny, lasting client distrust, and operational disruptions, impacting financial performance and market integrity.
3. Competition and Market Volatility: The emergence of new competitors, such as FMX, in core markets like Treasury futures presents a tangible risk to CME's market share. Additionally, CME Group's revenue is heavily dependent on trading volumes, which are influenced by market volatility. Prolonged periods of low market volatility can significantly impact the company's financial performance and compress margins due to its largely fixed-cost infrastructure.

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The rise of decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms and blockchain-based financial infrastructure poses an emerging threat. These platforms aim to facilitate peer-to-peer trading, clearing, and settlement of financial instruments, including derivatives, through automated smart contracts, potentially bypassing the need for traditional centralized exchanges and clearinghouses like CME.

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CME Group Inc. operates in several large addressable markets, primarily related to futures and options trading, clearing services, and market data. The sizes of these markets are global, unless otherwise specified:

• Futures and Options Contracts:
  • Interest Rate Derivatives: The global average daily turnover in over-the-counter (OTC) interest rate derivatives reached approximately US$7.9 trillion in April 2025. The global notional outstanding for interest rate derivatives totaled $665.8 trillion at mid-year 2025.
  • Equity Index Derivatives: The number of global exchange-traded stock index options and futures contracts amounted to 34.50 billion in the first half of 2023.
  • Foreign Exchange (FX) Derivatives: The global FX market saw an average daily turnover of US$9.6 trillion in April 2025, which includes spot and FX derivatives. The notional value of global FX derivatives grew to $155 trillion by June 2025.
  • Agricultural Commodities, Energy, and Metals Derivatives (Commodity Derivatives): The global commodity derivatives market activity, measured by share of the broader derivatives market revenue, held approximately USD 12.62 billion in 2025. More broadly, the total notional outstanding for all commodities in global markets was $3.7 trillion in 2023. The USA Precious Metal Derivatives Market alone was valued at USD 11 billion, based on a five-year historical analysis.
• Clearing House Services: The global clearing service market was valued at USD 42.5 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 71.2 billion by 2033. Separately, the global clearing houses and settlements market is projected to expand from USD 12.45 billion in 2025 to USD 18.85 billion by 2031.
• Market Data Services: The global financial data services market size was valued at USD 28.1 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach USD 59 billion by the end of 2035. Other estimates place the global financial data services market size at approximately $35 billion in 2023, expected to reach around $75 billion by 2032.

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CME Group Inc. (CME) is expected to drive future revenue growth over the next 2-3 years through several strategic initiatives and market trends:

1. Expansion of Non-U.S. Customer Base and Globalization: CME Group is actively expanding its international footprint, with non-U.S. business growing close to 10% over the past five years. This expansion into global markets, particularly in areas contributing higher margins, is a significant driver. Non-U.S. average daily volume (ADV) reached a record 8.4 million contracts per day in 2025, up 8% from the previous year.
2. Growth in Micro Products and Retail Market Expansion: The company is focused on tapping into the retail market by introducing new micro-sized products and forming partnerships with brokers such as Robinhood and Webull. Micro contract volume in Q4 2025 increased by a record 59% to 4.4 million contracts per day. This strategy aims to bring new participants to its markets, with about 45% of retail business originating from non-U.S. markets.
3. Continued Strength and Growth in Commodities Business: CME Group's commodities business, encompassing energy, agriculture, and metals, is experiencing multi-year growth. Annual transactional fees in commodities reached $1.8 billion in 2025, contributing significantly to the company's overall revenue. This segment recorded 12% growth in commodities trading in 2025.
4. Robust Growth in Market Data Revenue: Market data and information services represent a consistent and growing revenue stream for CME Group. In 2025, market data revenue surpassed $800 million for the first time, increasing by 13% year-over-year. Q4 2025 alone saw a 15% increase in market data revenue to $208 million, demonstrating sustained demand for its data offerings.
5. Launch of New Products and Services: CME Group is continuously evolving its product set to meet changing market demands. Key new offerings and initiatives include the expansion of 24/7 cryptocurrency trading, which saw Q4 2025 average daily volume reach 379,000 contracts (up 92%), and new offerings like retail event contracts, which traded over 68 million contracts in their first six weeks. The company is also focused on initiatives like U.S. Treasury clearing to expand access and provide greater margin efficiencies for clients.

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Share Repurchases

• CME Group's Board of Directors authorized a new share repurchase program of up to $3 billion of its Class A common stock on December 5, 2024, with no specified end date.
• The company repurchased $256 million in shares during the fourth quarter of 2025 and an additional $276 million in shares through early 2026.
• In 2025, CME Group repurchased $266.1 million of its Class A common stock.

Inbound Investments

• In 2021, Google made a $1 billion equity investment in CME Group as part of a 10-year strategic partnership to migrate CME's technology infrastructure to the cloud.

Outbound Investments

• CME Group has not made any significant acquisitions within the last 3-5 years, with the average number of acquisitions per year for 2020-2025 being zero.

Capital Expenditures

• Capital expenditures were $76.4 million in 2023 and $94 million in 2024.
• Expected capital expenditures are approximately $91.4 million for 2025 and $85 million to $96.45 million for 2026.
• The primary focus of capital expenditures is on consistently upgrading technology infrastructure to enhance trading speed, reliability, and security, with a strategic emphasis on accelerating cloud migration through its partnership with Google.