CME Group Revenue Jumps 10% in Q2

Key Points

• Revenue rose 10% to $1.7 billion, beating expectations, and reached a record high for the company.

• Adjusted EPS came in at $2.96, ahead of estimates and up 15.6% from the prior year.

• Strong growth in average daily contract volume, led by increased retail participation and strength across key product lines.

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CME Group (NASDAQ:CME), the major derivatives exchange operator known for its futures and options markets, reported financial results for the second quarter of 2025 on July 23, 2025. The company delivered record revenue of $1.7 billion, surpassing the consensus GAAP revenue estimate of $1.69 billion. Adjusted earnings per share were $2.96, topping the $2.91 expectation. These results represent year-over-year growth of 10% in revenue.

The quarter saw notable volume records, robust income growth, and a sizable increase in new retail traders.

Source: CME Group. Note: Analyst consensus estimates for the quarter provided by FactSet.

Understanding CME Group's Business and Key Strategies

CME Group operates global derivatives and futures exchanges where market participants can hedge risk, speculate, or access market pricing. Through its electronic trading platform, CME Globex, it offers products tied to interest rates, stock indexes, commodities like energy and agriculture, foreign exchange, and metals.

Recently, it has focused on expanding the breadth of its product suite, investing in technology, and reaching more international and retail clients. Key success factors include product innovation, strong trading volumes, effective risk management, and the ability to adapt to regulatory change. CME’s moves into micro contracts and partnerships with online trading firms have helped draw in a new generation of users.

Quarter in Focus: Financial and Operational Highlights

The company's revenue reached a quarterly record, up 10% from Q2 2024. Adjusted EPS also set a new high. This growth was powered by a 16% rise in average daily contract volume, led by interest rate futures, which saw average daily volume rise from 12,894 in Q2 2024 to 15,472. Agricultural commodities and metals also saw higher activity. The company’s net income (GAAP) increased to $1.025 billion, rising 16.1% year-over-year. Operating income showed similar strength, highlighting the business’s operating leverage.

Retail engagement saw a dramatic jump. The number of new retail traders surged 57% year over year. Micro contracts—smaller-sized futures designed with retail in mind—hit record volumes, with average daily volume at 4.1 million.

Clearing and transaction fees, which make up the bulk of revenue, totaled $1.4 billion, up 11% from the prior year. The company did note a slight increase in the average rate per contract (RPC), a measure of the average fee earned per trade, from $0.686 in Q1 2025 to $0.690. The average RPC was $0.690, down from $0.708 last year. This was most pronounced in the energy segment, where RPC dropped 12.2% year-over-year, while other asset classes such as interest rates and equity indexes remained relatively stable. Market data revenue grew 13.2% year-over-year. due to both a 3.5 % fee increase and stronger subscriber growth, especially among professionals and retail users.

On the expense side, total outlays rose 5.8% to $563 million compared to Q2 2024, mainly from higher technology costs, which increased 11% year-over-year as CME continued its migration to Google Cloud services. Compensation and benefits were up 8.3% year-over-year, reflecting CME’s ongoing investments. Despite these investments, CME’s operating income margin remained robust, showing the advantages of its scale.

The company paid approximately $3.0 billion in dividends during the first half of 2025. This marks a continued trend of capital returns, bringing total payouts since 2012 to $29.1 billion. Management highlighted an ongoing process to sell its stake in the Aastra joint venture, with proceeds likely to be received in about six months.

Product Trends and Innovations

Interest rate futures and options saw record activity, driven by volatile market conditions and demand for hedging tools. These contracts help traders, financial institutions, and companies manage exposure to changes in interest rates. Energy products, led by contracts on oil (WTI) and natural gas (Henry Hub), posted strong growth in both futures and options, supported by active participation from both domestic and global clients.

Within agriculture, CME continued to grow its complex portfolio of grain, livestock, and soft commodity contracts. Metals trading volumes also improved, and CME’s embrace of smaller contract sizes has been instrumental in reaching new market entrants.

CME’s ongoing move to cloud-based trading infrastructure, through its partnership with Google Cloud, aims to expand access, create efficiencies, and enhance resiliency in the financial markets ecosystem. Internationally, CME’s active outreach resulted in new client growth across Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East, where buy-side and commercial users increased their trading of benchmark contracts.

On the regulatory front, CME continued its policy of proactive margin adjustments—raising the collateral required from market participants to help manage volatile conditions and maintain market integrity. This strategy ensured the exchange’s systems handled periods of high risk smoothly.

Looking Ahead: Outlook and Points to Watch

The earnings release did not indicate any expected changes in capital allocation, beyond noting the planned Aastra joint venture sale and the company’s ongoing commitment to dividends and shareholder returns.

Investors should watch for trends in the average rate per contract, as technology expenses may keep rising as cloud migration continues. Competitive dynamics in overseas markets, especially Europe, present both a challenge and an opportunity for further expansion. Finally, regulatory developments, especially in U.S. Treasury clearing and collateral standards, remain important for CME and its clients.

Revenue and net income presented using U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) unless otherwise noted.

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JesterAI is a Foolish AI, based on a variety of Large Language Models (LLMs) and proprietary Motley Fool systems. All articles published by JesterAI are reviewed by our editorial team, and The Motley Fool takes ultimate responsibility for the content of this article. JesterAI cannot own stocks and so it has no positions in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends CME Group. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.