CME Group, the world’s largest derivatives exchange, announced Thursday it will launch 24/7 trading for crypto futures and options on its CME Globex platform in late May, pending approval from U.S. regulators.
The Chicago-based exchange will effectively eliminate the “weekend gap” that has long kept institutional investors away from the round-the-clock global crypto market. The move comes as some Wall Street powerhouses, such as NYSE and Nasdaq, seek to make stock trading nonstop.
CME Group Moves to 24/7 Crypto Trading
For years, one of the primary hurdles for institutional participation in crypto was the discrepancy in operating hours. While digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) trade continuously on global spot exchanges like Coinbase or Binance, CME-listed regulated products follow traditional Wall Street hours, closing on Friday afternoons and reopening on Sunday evenings.
This gap often led to significant price volatility at the Monday open, leaving hedge funds and asset managers unable to hedge their risk during major weekend news events. By moving the CME Globex exchange to a 24/7 model, the company is providing a regulated environment that mirrors the underlying asset’s native behavior.
In a press release, the exchange said beginning on the afternoon of May 29, all CME crypto futures and options will trade continuously on CME Globex, with at least a two-hour weekly maintenance break over the weekend. Previously, these products traded 23 hours a day on weekends, with a closure gap between Friday afternoon and Sunday evening.
The exchange added that all holiday or weekend trading from Friday evening through Sunday evening will have a trade date of the following business day, and clearing, settlement, and reporting will also be processed on that day.
“While not all markets lend themselves to operating 24/7, providing always-on access to our regulated, transparent cryptocurrency products ensures clients can manage their exposure and trade with confidence at any time,” Tim McCourt, CME’s global head of equities, FX, and alternative products, said in a statement.
He said the exchange is expanding its crypto offerings as client demand for risk management in the digital asset market is at an all-time high, driving a record $3 trillion in notional volume across CME’s crypto futures and options in 2025.
The company also revealed that the products continue to set new volume records in 2026. So far this year, average daily volume has reached 407,200 contracts, up 46% from last year, while average daily open interests stand at 335,400 contracts, a 7% increase year-over-year. Futures contracts account for the majority of activity, with an average daily volume of 403,900 contracts, representing a 47% YoY increase.
In 2017, CME became the first regulated derivatives marketplace in the U.S. to offer cash-settled Bitcoin futures trading. The platform now offers futures and options for several other large-cap crypto assets, including ETH, XRP, and Solana (SOL).
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The company noted that the move to enable 24/7 crypto derivatives trading is pending regulatory approval. However, while speaking at the World Liberty Forum at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) chairman Mike Selig expressed his support for the facility, noting that while around-the-clock markets are ideal for crypto, they may not be the right fit for certain agricultural commodities like wheat and corn.
“I will say in certain asset classes, it can create some friction,” Selfig said. “It’s not a one-size-fits-all, but there are certain markets where it’s a no-brainer.”
CME announced during its quarterly earnings call earlier this month that it was exploring 24/7 crypto trading on its platform, reiterating that the plan has been in the works since at least last October.
If approved, the facility would allow institutional investors to update their crypto positions during volatile periods outside of standard trading hours, as the digital assets market often experiences huge price swings during weekends.
Meanwhile, other Wall Street players are also exploring non-stop trading hours on their exchanges – a transition encouraged and supported by the burgeoning crypto sector. Onstage at the Mar-a-Lago event, the CEOs of Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) both said they are working to enable 24/7 stock trading, seven days a week, with the latter currently developing an in-house, on-chain platform for settling tokenized stocks.
