CME Group posted an average daily volume (ADV) of 33.1 million contracts in November, up 10% from the same month last year, but the derivatives exchange saw its foreign exchange (Forex) business contract sharply during the period.

The company's FX contracts averaged 746,000 per day in November 2025, down roughly 25% from the record 1 million contracts traded in November 2024. The decline stands out against growth across most other asset classes and marks a reversal from the exchange's record FX performance just a year earlier.

Interest Rates and Equities Drive CME’s Overall Growth

Interest rate products dominated November activity with 17.5 million contracts per day, while equity index futures and options reached 8.9 million contracts, up 39% year-over-year. The equity surge was led by micro products, with Micro E-mini Nasdaq 100 contracts jumping 72% to 2.2 million and Micro E-mini S&P 500 rising 80% to 1.6 million contracts daily.

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The exchange's overall November performance fell short of its April 2025 record of 35.9 million contracts but still ranked as the second-highest monthly volume in company history. Energy products averaged 2.6 million contracts, agricultural commodities hit 2.1 million, and metals reached 1.3 million contracts per day.

In November, trading volumes were not disrupted even by the fact that, at the end of the month, CME Group faced a data-center outage that caused interruptions in the pricing of several major FX and commodities instruments across global markets. The issue, which lasted for several hours, created significant difficulties for FX/CFD brokers and traders.

Crypto Derivatives Hit New Peak

Cryptocurrency derivatives posted record activity with 424,000 contracts daily, representing $13.2 billion in notional value and a 78% increase from November 2024. Micro Ether futures led the crypto surge with volumes up 176% to 229,000 contracts, while standard Ether futures more than doubled to 24,000 contracts.

The rise in crypto-related volumes was certainly supported by the exchange’s mid-October decision to expand its digital asset offering with futures on XRP and Solana.

The crypto performance contrasts sharply with the FX pullback. While CME Group's spot FX platform EBS saw strong volumes earlier in 2025, including $66.5 billion daily in January, the November futures and options data suggests traders shifted focus to other asset classes as currency volatility moderated in the second half of the year.

International trading volumes rose 6% to 9.8 million contracts, with the EMEA region up 3% to 7.2 million contracts and Asia-Pacific climbing 13% to 2.2 million. The exchange's BrokerTec U.S. repo business averaged $386 billion in daily notional value, up 17% from the prior year.