cme-20260331

Table of Contents

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

_________________________________________________________

FORM 10-Q

_________________________________________________________

(Mark One)


☒			QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the quarterly period ended March 31, 2026

- OR -


☐			TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from to

Commission file number 001-31553

CME GROUP INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware

36-4459170

(State or other jurisdiction of
incorporation or organization)

(I.R.S. Employer
Identification No.)

20 South Wacker Drive

Chicago

Illinois

60606

(Address of principal executive offices)

(Zip Code)

(312) 930-1000

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Not Applicable

(Former name, former address and former fiscal year, if changed since last report)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:


Title of each class	Trading symbol	Name of each exchange on which registered
Class A Common Stock	CME	The Nasdaq Stock Market

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer

☒

Accelerated filer

☐

Non-accelerated filer

☐

Smaller reporting company

☐

Emerging growth company

☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

Yes ☐ No ☒

The number of shares outstanding of each of the registrant’s classes of common stock as of April 8, 2026 was as follows: 362,356,209 shares of Class A common stock, $0.01 par value; 625 shares of Class B-1 common stock, $0.01 par value; 813 shares of Class B-2 common stock, $0.01 par value; 1,287 shares of Class B-3 common stock, $0.01 par value; and 413 shares of Class B-4 common stock, $0.01 par value.

Table of Contents

CME GROUP INC.

FORM 10-Q

INDEX



		Page

PART I. FINANCIAL INFORMATION		3

Item 1.	Financial Statements	5

	Consolidated Balance Sheets at March 31, 2026 and December 31, 2025	5

	Consolidated Statements of Income for the Quarters Ended March 31, 2026 and 2025	6

	Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income for the Quarters Ended March 31, 2026 and 2025	7

	Consolidated Statements of Equity for the Quarters Ended March 31, 2026 and 2025	8

	Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the Quarters Ended March 31, 2026 and 2025	9

	Notes to Unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements	11

Item 2.	Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	22

Item 3.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk	31

Item 4.	Controls and Procedures	31

PART II. OTHER INFORMATION		31

Item 1.	Legal Proceedings	31

Item 1A.	Risk Factors	31

Item 2.	Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds	31

Item 5.	Other Information	32

Item 6.	Exhibits	32

SIGNATURES		33

Table of Contents

PART I. FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Certain Terms

All references to “options” or “options contracts” in the text of this document refer to options on futures contracts.

Further information about CME Group and its products can be found at http://www.cmegroup.com. Information made available on our website does not constitute a part of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

Information about Contract Volume and Average Rate per Contract

Unless otherwise noted, all amounts regarding contract volume and average rate per contract are for CME Group's listed futures and options on futures contracts and exclude CME Group's event contracts.

Trademark Information

CME Group, the Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Globex, and E-mini are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME), CBOT and Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc. BrokerTec is a trademark of BrokerTec Americas LLC and EBS is a trademark of EBS Group Limited. Dow Jones, Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and S&P are service and/or trademarks of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC, Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, as the case may be, and have been licensed for use by CME. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Forward-Looking Statements

From time to time, in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q as well as in other written reports and verbal statements, we discuss our expectations regarding future performance. These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as “believe,” “anticipate,” “could,” “estimate,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “expect” and similar expressions, including references to assumptions. These forward-looking statements are based on currently available competitive, financial and economic data, current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the industries in which we operate and management's beliefs and assumptions. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. We want to caution you not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Among the factors that might affect our performance are:

•increasing competition by foreign and domestic entities, including increased competition from new entrants into our markets and consolidation of existing entities; our ability to keep pace with rapid technological developments, including our ability to complete the development, implementation and maintenance of the enhanced functionality required by our customers while maintaining reliability and ensuring that such technology is not vulnerable to security risks;

•our ability to continue introducing innovative and competitive new products and services on a timely, cost-effective basis, including through our electronic trading capabilities, and derive revenues that are commensurate with our efforts and expectations, and our ability to maintain the competitiveness of our existing products and services;

•our ability to adjust our fixed costs and expenses if our revenues decline;

•our ability to manage variable costs associated with CME Group's transition to the Google Cloud, and minimizing the duplicative costs of maintaining both on-premise and Google Cloud environments during the transition;

•the resilience of our electronic platforms and the soundness of our business continuity and disaster recovery plans, including in the event of cyberattacks and cyberterrorism or as impacted by a failure of or disruption at one of our suppliers;

•our ability to maintain existing customers at substantially similar trading levels, develop strategic relationships and attract new customers;

•our ability to expand and globally offer our products and services;

•changes in regulations, including the impact of any changes in laws or government policies with respect to our products or services or our industry, such as any changes to regulations and policies that require increased financial and operational resources from us or our customers, as well as the impact of tariffs and tax policy changes, restrictions on our ability to offer CME Group products and services in specific geographies or to specific customers or limitations or changes in underlying/physical product flows across geographies;

•the costs associated with protecting our intellectual property rights and our ability to operate our business without violating the intellectual property rights of others;

•decreases in revenue from our market data as a result of decreased demand or changes to regulations in various jurisdictions;

Table of Contents

•changes in our rate per contract due to shifts in the mix of the products traded, the trading venue and the mix of customers (whether the customer receives member or non-member fees or participates in one of our various incentive programs) and the impact of our tiered pricing structure;

•the ability of our credit and liquidity risk management practices to adequately protect us from the credit risks of clearing firms and other counterparties, and to satisfy the margin and liquidity requirements associated with the BrokerTec matched principal business;

•the ability of our compliance and risk management programs to effectively monitor and manage our risks, including our ability to prevent errors and misconduct and protect our infrastructure against security breaches and misappropriation of our intellectual property assets;

•our dependence on third-party providers and exposure to risk from third parties, including risks related to the performance, reliability and security of technology used by, or facilities provided by, our third-party providers and third-party providers that our clients and third-parties rely on;

•our reliance on third-party distribution partners, including independent software vendors (ISVs), futures commission merchants (FCMs), introducing brokers, broker-dealers, regulatory reporting and data distributors and platform operators, and other partners, for facilitating trading and for market data information, and potential impacts from changes in their business models and priorities;

•volatility in commodity, equity and fixed income prices, and price volatility of financial benchmarks and instruments such as interest rates, equity indices, fixed income instruments and foreign exchange rates; economic, social, political and market conditions, including the volatility of the capital and credit markets and the impact of economic conditions on the trading activity of our current and potential customers;

•our ability to accommodate increases in contract volume and market data and order transaction traffic across the entire trade cycle and the ability to implement enhancements meeting our regulatory obligations and customer needs without failure or degradation of the performance of our trading and clearing systems;

•our ability to execute our growth strategy and maintain our growth effectively;

•our ability to manage the risks, control the costs and achieve the synergies associated with and benefits from our strategy for acquisitions, investments, alliances, strategic partnerships and joint ventures;

•variances in earnings on cash accounts and collateral that our clearing house holds;

•impact of CME Group pricing/fee level and structure and incentive changes;

•impact of aggregation services and internalization on trade flow and volumes;

•any negative financial impacts from changes to the terms of intellectual property and index rights;

•our ability to continue to generate funds and/or manage our indebtedness to allow us to continue to invest in our business;

•industry, channel partner and customer consolidation and/or concentration;

•decreases in trading and clearing activity;

•the imposition of a transaction tax or user fee on futures and options transactions and/or repeal of the 60/40 tax treatment of such transactions;

•increases in effective tax rates, borrowing costs or changes in tax policy;

•our ability to maintain our brand and reputation; and

•the unfavorable resolution of material legal proceedings.

For a detailed discussion of these and other factors that might affect our performance, see Item 1A. of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 26, 2026 and Item 1A. in Part II of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

Table of Contents


ITEM 1.			FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

CME GROUP INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(dollars in millions, except par value data; shares in thousands)


	March 31, 2026		December 31, 2025
	(unaudited)
Assets
Current Assets:
Cash and cash equivalents	$	2,391.2	$	4,416.9
Marketable securities	124.2		125.0
Accounts receivable, net of allowance of $9.5 and $10.0	935.5		639.2
Other current assets (includes $6.4 and $6.5 in restricted cash)	515.0		522.1
Performance bonds and guaranty fund contributions	165,035.3		159,656.1
Total current assets	169,001.2		165,359.3
Property, net of accumulated depreciation and amortization of $1,028.3 and $1,005.7	355.4		362.7
Intangible assets—trading products	17,175.3		17,175.3
Intangible assets—other, net	2,550.8		2,610.7
Goodwill	10,506.0		10,514.7
Other assets	2,404.8		2,401.5
Total Assets	$	201,993.5	$	198,424.2

Liabilities and Equity
Current Liabilities:
Accounts payable	$	75.4	$	71.8

Other current liabilities	887.1		568.8
Performance bonds and guaranty fund contributions	165,035.3		159,656.1
Total current liabilities	165,997.8		160,296.7
Long-term debt	3,423.2		3,422.3
Deferred income tax liabilities, net	5,221.1		5,242.2
Other liabilities	733.2		734.8
Total Liabilities	175,375.3		169,696.0



Shareholders’ Equity:
Preferred stock, $0.01 par value, 10,000 shares authorized at March 31, 2026 and December 31, 2025; no shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2026 and 4,584 issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2025	—		—
Class A common stock, $0.01 par value, 1,000,000 shares authorized at March 31, 2026 and December 31, 2025; 361,790 and 358,950 shares issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2026 and December 31, 2025, respectively	3.6		3.6
Class B common stock, $0.01 par value, 3 shares authorized, issued and outstanding as of March 31, 2026 and December 31, 2025	—		—
Additional paid-in capital	21,670.6		22,209.5
Retained earnings	4,884.6		6,433.2
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss)	59.4		81.9
Total CME Group Shareholders’ Equity	26,618.2		28,728.2


Total Liabilities and Equity	$	201,993.5	$	198,424.2

See accompanying notes to unaudited consolidated financial statements.

Table of Contents

CME GROUP INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME

(dollars in millions, except per share data; shares in thousands)

(unaudited)


	Quarter Ended
	March 31,
		2026		2025
Revenues
Clearing and transaction fees		$	1,542.6	$	1,337.3
Market data and information services		224.1		194.5
Other		113.4		110.5
Total Revenues		1,880.1		1,642.3
Expenses
Compensation and benefits		223.0		206.7
Technology		76.6		65.7
Professional fees and outside services		28.2		28.5
Amortization of purchased intangibles		56.1		55.2
Depreciation and amortization		27.2		27.3
Licensing and other fee agreements		106.8		96.6
Other		52.5		54.3
Total Expenses		570.4		534.3
Operating Income		1,309.7		1,108.0

Non-Operating Income (Expense)
Investment income		1,389.3		892.7
Interest and other borrowing costs		(43.6)		(41.7)
Equity in net earnings of unconsolidated subsidiaries		102.4		88.2
Other non-operating income (expense)		(1,246.9)		(802.4)
Total Non-Operating Income (Expense)		201.2		136.8
Income before Income Taxes		1,510.9		1,244.8
Income tax provision		356.6		288.6


Net Income		$	1,154.3	$	956.2

Earnings per Share Attributable to Common Shareholders of CME Group:
Basic		$	3.25	$	2.63
Diluted		3.18		2.62
Weighted Average Number of Common Shares:
Basic		359,318		359,613
Diluted		363,208		360,227

See accompanying notes to unaudited consolidated financial statements.

Table of Contents

CME GROUP INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

(in millions)

(unaudited)


	Quarter Ended
	March 31,
		2026		2025
Net Income		$	1,154.3	$	956.2
Other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax:
Investment securities:
Net unrealized holding gains (losses) arising during the period		(0.1)		0.2


Investment securities, net		(0.1)		0.2
Defined benefit plans:
Net change in defined benefit plans arising during the period		(2.1)		(1.2)

Income tax benefit (expense)		0.4		0.3
Defined benefit plans, net		(1.7)		(0.9)
Derivative investments:


Reclassification of net unrealized (gains) losses to interest expense and other non-operating income (expense)		(1.1)		(0.9)
Income tax benefit (expense)		0.3		0.2
Derivative investments, net		(0.8)		(0.7)
Foreign currency translation:
Foreign currency translation adjustments		(21.9)		35.6

Income tax benefit (expense)		2.0		(3.5)
Foreign currency translation, net		(19.9)		32.1
Other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax		(22.5)		30.7
Comprehensive Income		$	1,131.8	$	986.9

See accompanying notes to unaudited consolidated financial statements.

Table of Contents

CME GROUP INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF EQUITY

(dollars in millions, except per share data; shares in thousands)

(unaudited)



	Preferred Stock (Shares)	Class A Common Stock (Shares)	Class B Common Stock (Shares)	Preferred Stock, Common Stock and Additional Paid-in Capital		Retained Earnings		Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss)		Total CME Group Shareholders’ Equity
Balance at December 31, 2025	4,584	358,950	3	$	22,213.1	$	6,433.2	$	81.9	$	28,728.2
Net income						1,154.3				1,154.3
Other comprehensive income (loss)								(22.5)		(22.5)
Dividends on common stock of $7.45 per share						(2,702.9)				(2,702.9)



Conversion of Series G preferred stock to Class A common stock	(4,584)	4,584
Vesting of issued restricted Class A common stock		94		(22.0)						(22.0)


Repurchase of Class A common stock (1)		(1,838)		(538.7)						(538.7)
Stock-based compensation				21.8						21.8
Balance at March 31, 2026	—	361,790	3	$	21,674.2	$	4,884.6	$	59.4	$	26,618.2

(1) In December 2024, the board of directors approved a share repurchase program (the Share Repurchase Program), which authorizes the repurchase of up to $3.0 billion of CME Group Class A common stock at prevailing market prices. During the quarter ended March 31, 2026, 1,838,492 shares of outstanding Class A common stock were repurchased. The average price was $291.58 per share for a total of $536.1 million (excluding transaction tax). The remaining aggregate amount under the existing Share Repurchase Program is $2.2 billion. Shares are retired upon repurchase and not held as treasury stock.



	Preferred Stock (Shares)	Class A Common Stock (Shares)	Class B Common Stock (Shares)	Preferred Stock, Common Stock and Additional Paid-in Capital		Retained Earnings		Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (Loss)		Total CME Group Shareholders’ Equity
Balance at December 31, 2024	4,584	359,602	3	$	22,406.6	$	4,185.8	$	(105.5)	$	26,486.9
Net income						956.2

SEC Form 10-Q filed by CME Group Inc.