CME · Earnings call · 2026Q3T · Full report

Competition and Market Position

CME GROUP INC. · 2026-10-21 · Importance 10 · Surprise 6

Terry Duffy argued that CME’s institutional liquidity ecosystem and capital efficiencies are difficult for retail platforms or FCMs launching their own products to replicate. He said 94% of CME’s business is institutionally driven and emphasized that retail participants benefit from access to the large institutions and open interest on CME. Management characterized CME’s value proposition as attractive to large clients and their retail partners because participants can access liquidity pools and generate capital efficiencies. Duffy cautioned that retail trading primarily against other retail participants and proprietary trading firms is not a durable basis for a successful market.

Key facts

• More than $100 billion of efficiencies were cited as difficult for retail platforms to replicate.
• CME Group's CEO said overseas perpetual futures platforms had offered leverage ranging from 25 to 250 times, which he identified as a systemic risk.
• CME Group’s value proposition includes access to liquidity pools of large institutions and the associated efficiencies, which management said are difficult to replicate.