Increased volatility in the U.S. equity market drove strong activity in futures and options trading as participants continue to turn to our markets to manage exposure. Equities achieved a record quarterly average daily volume (ADV) of 8M contracts in Q1. 

Volatility in the U.S. equity market is largely propelled by ‌trade tariff uncertainty, which has reignited inflation predictions and shaken investor confidence. This has led to considerable rotations between growth and value sectors, with the technology and consumer discretionary sector experiencing significant pullbacks.  

Growth in Sector futures is driven by increased participation in the financials, real estate and utilities sectors in 2025. ADV reached a record 26K contracts, up 24% vs. 2024. Average open interest (OI) reached record levels of 283K contracts (+5% vs. 2024). 

The derived block functionality continues to be embraced by a broad range of clients across asset managers, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and hedge funds. Year to date, we've seen over $12.6B notional traded in derived blocks on Sector futures with outsized activity in Financials (XAF), Materials (XAB) and Healthcare (XAV) sectors.

Non-U.S. hours (5:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. Central time) trading has seen a sizable uptick, with institutional investors trading around the clock responding to unexpected market-moving events. 

Equity Index options ADV in 2025 reached 1.5M contracts, up 8% vs Q4 2024. Additionally, Equity options have traded a record 257K contracts during non-U.S. hours, which accounts for 17% of total options volume traded in 2025. 

The tech sell-off on January 27 saw a significant surge in overnight Equity options trading volume, which reached 754K contracts, the fourth-largest overnight trading day in history. On the same day, E-mini Nasdaq-100 options achieved a volume record of 176K contracts and 63K contracts traded overnight.

Micro E-mini Equity futures continue to establish themselves among the most actively traded and deeply liquid index products. As investors continue to navigate ongoing market uncertainty, index choice is as important as ever. 

• Record ADV of 3.3 million contracts, +35% vs. 2024 
• Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures (MNQ) 2025 ADV reached a record 1.8M contracts, accounting for 55% of the Micro E-mini futures suite ADV
• March ADV also achieved a record 4M contracts 

Adjusted Interest Rate (AIR) Total Return futures across the S&P 500, Nasdaq-100 and Russell 2000 indices continued to grow in 2025. AIR Total Return futures on U.S. indices are designed to provide total return exposure with an overnight floating rate built in, offering similar economics to an equity index total return swap with futures’ margin efficiency.

• Record Q1 ADV of 26K contracts, +87% vs 2024
• Record Q1 average OI of 780K ($220B in notional) +42% vs. 2024 
• 2025 Globex ADV of 1.7K contracts, +381% vs. 2023 
• Third-largest single-day volume on record with 84,110 contracts on March 18, ahead of the March expiry

Coming June 30, pending regulatory review: a fresh way to trade leading cryptocurrency and equity index markets with precision. Spot-Quoted futures are small-sized contracts based on the spot price. They require lower upfront capital commitment and have long-dated expirations, allowing you to trade without monthly or quarterly futures rolls. Spot-Quoted futures will be available in six key markets: S&P 500, Nasdaq-100, Russell 2000, Dow Jones Industrial Average, bitcoin and ether.

Coming May 19, pending regulatory review, BTIC calendar spreads transactions will be available for select months for the Adjusted Interest Rate S&P 500 Total Return (EFFR) futures contract for trading on Globex.

Trade Marker at Close (TMAC) transactions have become a game-changer for traders, offering a precise way to execute trades into the near-month Equity Index futures at a price determined during the daily settlement window. 

• Since launch in 2023, over 123K TMAC transactions have occurred across S&P 500, Russell 2000 and Nasdaq-100 futures.
• 2025 YTD is 516 contracts, +37% vs. 2024

The Commodity Index products suite has continued to grow in the post-UMR environment, achieving record volume and OI in 2025. Traders are seeing the benefits of Commodity Index futures, options and listed swaps now more than ever, as more market participants look for opportunities to manage risk and express views on commodity market movements. 

• Record ADV of 7.7K contracts, up 27% year-over-year
• Record OI of 338K contracts ($5.7 billion in notional), up 16% year over year

Starting March 31, pending regulatory review, BCOM Subindex futures will be available across seven leading commodity index sectors, providing investors with the ability to express their views around sector-specific asset volatility on their portfolios. 

BCOM Subindex futures will join the growing suite of BCOM products, including BCOM futures and options, BCOM swaps and BCOM Roll Select futures. 

• The BCOM suite has grown in volume and OI in 2025, up +50% and 42%, respectively
• Record ADV of 6.4K and record ADOI of 265K contracts

The Dividend futures and options suite is off to a strong start in 2025, largely on the back of increased growth in recently launched options on S&P 500 Annual Dividend futures, which provide market participants more opportunities to manage dividend index volatility using sophisticated option strategies. 

• Dividend futures and options ADV in 2025 is a record 7.7K contracts with average open interest exceeding 476K contracts. 
• Dividend options ADV in 2025 is 2.5K contracts with OI averaging 165K. 
• OI peaked at 238K contracts on March 31. 

Trading volume continues to grow in the Nikkei futures suite, with 2025 ADV standing at 34K contracts and ADOI of 49K. 

Micro Nikkei futures contracts, launched in Q4 2024, allow market participants to access more Japanese benchmark exposure with greater precision. These contracts are denominated in JPY and USD and sized at 50 yen and $0.50, respectively, complementing our existing suite of standard and E-mini Nikkei contracts.

• 513K+ contracts traded with a record volume day of 13K contracts on January 27.
• 900+ unique accounts from 37 countries traded since the launch.

The Q1 2025 equity roll (Mar/Jun) implied financing spread to 3-month SOFR decreased to +61 bps from the 3-month SOFR +71bps for (Sept/Dec). 

The roll was +4 bps from the Q1 2024 roll of +57 bps, continuing to increase the running 4-quarter moving average to +71 bps (note 3-month SOFR has replaced 3-month LIBOR as the reference).

• Record ADV of 8M futures and options contracts, +17% vs. Q1 2024

Equity Index futures:

• Volume: 6.5M ADV (+26% vs. Q1-2024) 
• OI: 5.4M contracts per day (+5% vs Q1 2024)

Equity Index options on futures:

• Volume: 1.5M ADV
• OI: 5.8M contracts per day

Source: CME Group. Data as of March 31, 2025, unless otherwise indicated.

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