CME Globex
CME's electronic trading platform — the venue where futures actually trade nearly 24 hours a day, Sunday evening through Friday close.
What is CME Globex?
CME Globex is the electronic exchange platform where futures orders match. When traders say “the futures market,” they mean Globex: its schedule defines the session, its order book defines the fills, and its trade-date boundary defines what counts as a “day” on every funded account.
How CME Globex works
The Globex week opens Sunday 6:00 PM ET and runs nearly continuously to Friday 5:00 PM ET, pausing one hour daily (5–6 PM ET) for maintenance and trade-date rollover. Product groups add their own quirks — equity index futures halt 4:15–4:30 PM ET; grains run a split session. Holiday schedules modify all of it roughly ten times a year.
Worked example
A funded trader takes a position Sunday at 7:30 PM ET. On their firm’s dashboard the trade counts toward Monday — because Globex’s Sunday session belongs to Monday’s trade date. Their EOD drawdown recalculates at Monday’s 5:00 PM ET settlement, not at midnight.
CME Globex vs related concepts
Side-by-side comparison of CME Globex against the most commonly confused alternatives.
| Concept | Definition | Category |
|---|---|---|
| CME Globex this term | CME's electronic trading platform — the venue where futures actually trade nearly 24 hours a day, Sunday evening through Friday close. | Futures Mechanics |
| Trading Hours | The defined daily windows during which a futures contract is open for trading on the exchange — typically split into Regular Trading Hours (RTH) and Extended/Globex sessions covering near-24-hour cycles. | Futures Mechanics |
| RTH vs ETH (Regular vs Extended Trading Hours) | The split between the high-volume day session aligned with US cash markets (RTH) and the thinner overnight session (ETH) — two auctions with different rules of behavior. | Futures Mechanics |
| Settlement Price | The official price set by an exchange at the end of each trading day, used to mark all open positions to market and determine daily P&L for futures contracts. | Futures Mechanics |
Why traders fail CME Globex
Anchoring the trading day to the calendar day. Everything on a prop account — trading-day minimums, EOD drawdown, consistency math — runs on the 6 PM-to-5 PM ET Globex day. Assuming uniform hours across products: index, metals, energy, and grains do not share identical schedules; check per contract.
Frequently asked questions about CME Globex
What is CME Globex?
CME Group's electronic trading platform — the venue where futures contracts trade nearly 24 hours a day, five days a week. Its schedule defines the futures "session" and trade date.
What are Globex hours?
Sunday 6:00 PM ET through Friday 5:00 PM ET, with a one-hour maintenance break at 5:00 PM ET daily. Equity index futures add a 15-minute halt at 4:15 PM ET; some product groups differ.