CME Group reports higher April derivatives volume as average daily contracts reach 25.9 million

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CME April derivatives volume

Highlights

CME Group's April 2026 average daily derivatives volume reached 25.9 million contracts, led by 11.4 million in interest rate products and 7.8 million in equity index products.
Micro WTI Crude Oil futures volume surged 421% year-on-year to 410,000 contracts, while other micro contracts showed robust growth: Micro Gold up 50%, Micro Silver up 264%.
BrokerTec average daily notional value rose 4% to $1.041 trillion, U.S. Repo increased 3% to $389 billion, and FX Link volume jumped 33% to 56,000 contracts.

April volume growth across major products

As reported by CME Group, interest rate products led April 2026 activity with average daily volume of 11.4 million contracts, followed by equity index products at 7.8 million and energy at 2.9 million. Agricultural products reached 2 million contracts, while metals totaled 926,000, foreign exchange 873,000 and cryptocurrency 192,000 contracts, equal to $14.8 billion in notional value.

The company said several contracts posted sharp year-on-year gains versus April 2025. Micro WTI Crude Oil futures volume rose 421% to 410,000 contracts, WTI Crude Oil weekly options increased 44% to 33,000, Micro Gold futures climbed 50% to 436,000 and Micro Silver futures surged 264% to 85,000.

Agricultural trading also showed strength, including a record 107,000 contracts in KC HRW Wheat futures, while Soybean Oil futures rose 9% to 240,000 and Chicago SRW Wheat futures increased 19% to 187,000. In foreign exchange, Japanese Yen futures hit a record daily volume of 632,000 contracts on April 30, and Ether futures average daily volume rose 33% to 19,000 contracts as overall cryptocurrency activity increased 5%.

Broader market and clearing implications

Micro contracts continued to represent a meaningful share of activity across several segments. CME Group said Micro E-mini Equity Index futures and options accounted for 46% of overall equity index volume, while Micro Energy futures made up 15% of energy activity and Micro Metals futures represented 58% of metals volume.

In fixed-income trading infrastructure, BrokerTec average daily notional value increased 4% to $1.041 trillion. U.S. Repo average daily notional value rose 3% to $389 billion, and European Repo average daily notional value increased 15% to euro369 billion.

FX Link average daily volume rose 33% to 56,000 contracts, equivalent to $4.9 billion in notional value per leg. For the rolling three months ending March 2026, customer average collateral balances used to meet performance bond requirements stood at $149.5 billion in cash collateral and $170.9 billion in non-cash collateral.

In our earlier article on Payward’s completed acquisition of Bitnomial, we outlined how the deal strengthens Kraken’s expansion into CFTC-regulated crypto derivatives for U.S. clients. We noted that the Bitnomial licenses enable a rollout path from spot margin to perpetuals and options across Kraken and NinjaTrader, supported by a full U.S. derivatives regulatory stack.

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