Duffy says perpetual futures are swaps; CME lawsuit heads to December briefing

CME Group Chairman and CEO Terry Duffy argued on the company’s third-quarter 2026 earnings call on October 21, 2026 that perpetual futures are swaps under Dodd-Frank, as the exchange operator presses its lawsuit against the CFTC over the products.

General Counsel John Marchese said a motion to dismiss has been filed in the lawsuit, that CME has opposed it, and that the company is confident in its position.

He said CME expects the substance of the case to be fully before the judge in December.

An analyst asked whether CME would list its own perpetuals if the case were dismissed and the products were deemed futures in the United States.

Duffy said the company has not publicly decided the question, that CME will abide by whatever the court decides, and that he would hold off on a decision either way until then.

Duffy argued that under Dodd-Frank, a swap is two parties exchanging payments on a product, and that a perpetual future’s funding rate is exactly that exchange.

The funding rate, he said, “is deemed a swap.”

Leverage and systemic risk

Later in the call, Duffy said his earlier comment about systemic risk referred to the amount of leverage on perpetuals traded on overseas platforms, not in the United States.

Asked whether much lower leverage would change his view, he said he does not give an opinion until he sees a proposal in writing, and that he has not seen anything on leverage caps.

Prediction markets and Single Stock futures

Duffy said people currently assume every market needs a prediction market attached to it, and that this does not make it right.

He did not rule out adding a prediction market on Single Stock futures later, but said the contract “will go forward without predictions to start with, for sure.”

Tim McCourt, CME’s Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Equity, FX, and Alternative Products, said Single Stock futures, launched during the quarter, have traded a little over 350,000 contracts with about $3.5 billion of notional since launch.

Record third quarter

CME Group reported third-quarter revenue of $1.7 billion, up 13% from the third quarter of 2025, a record for a third quarter.

Third-quarter average daily volume reached 29.4 million contracts, the strongest third quarter by that measure in company history and up 16% from a year earlier.

Adjusted diluted earnings per share were $3.02, up 13% from the third quarter of 2025.

Duffy said 94% of CME’s business is institutionally driven.

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