CME Launches Overnight Crypto Derivatives Trading
Citing investor demand, the CME Group will offer trading of their suite of cryptocurrency options and futures on the CME Globex exchange 24 hours per day, seven days per week beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET on May 29, 2026. One small exception to 24/7 availability: There will be a maintenance period from 5:00 p.m. to 5:02 p.m. ET each weekday and a two-hour maintenance period every weekend.
The move brings trading of crypto futures and options more in line with the spot crypto market, which already trades around the clock.
Schwab customers with futures-approved trading accounts will be able to take advantage of the new trading hours on some of these products as soon as they launch.
Most crypto trading takes place during traditional U.S. and European trading hours. Because of thinner liquidity, price moves during overnight hours can be more volatile, leaving traders with positions in crypto derivatives exposed to big moves while that market is closed. The CME's around-the-clock crypto derivatives trading might help traders manage that risk.
Some traders are also looking to capture price moves that take place during non-U.S. trading hours.
The CME said the volume of trading in crypto derivatives continues to set record highs. The average daily volume of crypto futures contracts had topped more than 400,000 as of February, an increase of nearly 50% from a year earlier.
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