CME Group Inc.

CME turned record trading volume into something more durable: a data subscription business growing about 20% a year. Now it is paying for the next wave — round-the-clock markets, single stock and compute futures, Treasury clearing — before any of it earns. How much of CME's revenue is now subscriptions rather than trading?

• Record volume now rests on breadth, not one hot market.

  In Q1 every asset class set a record at the same time — a first — and Q3 grew volume by double digits in all of them again, with international up 22%. A quiet month in rates no longer sinks a quarter.

• Data is turning into a second, steadier business.

  Market data has grown for 34 quarters straight and accelerated to 20% in Q2 2026 while trading fees slipped, a third of it from retail and simulated-trading accounts. That money arrives whether or not anyone needs to hedge. How does CME's data growth compare with its trading revenue growth?

• The next product wave is being paid for before it earns.

  2026 expense guidance of $1.695 billion carries round-the-clock trading, securities clearing and event contracts. Spending ran 7% above last year with Dallas and the cloud still ramping, so one regulator's delay stretches the payback. What has happened to CME's operating margin as this spending ramped?