Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and CME Group both operate financial-market infrastructure: they provide trading venues and clearing, and they sell market information. Their reported FY2025 portfolios differ, however. ICE reports three substantial segments, including Mortgage Technology, while CME Group reports most revenue as clearing and transaction fees, with market data and information services as another stream.
How ICE and CME Group make money
Both companies connect participants to financial markets and provide services around trading and clearing. They also monetize information generated by or useful to those markets. The overlap is real, but their financial statements group activities differently, so the categories should not be treated as directly equivalent.
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All figures below are company-reported FY2025 results for the year ended December 31, 2025, released in 2026. Revenue totals describe scale, not business quality or investment merit.
ICE’s three reported business segments
ICE reported $9.931 billion in consolidated FY2025 revenue. Its segment totals show a business spanning exchanges, fixed-income information and services, and mortgage workflows.
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| ICE FY2025 reported segment | Revenue | What it represents |
|---|---|---|
| Exchanges | $5.411 billion | Exchange activity alongside data, connectivity, and listing revenues. |
| Fixed Income and Data Services | $2.419 billion | Data, execution, clearing, and analytics activities. |
| Mortgage Technology | $2.101 billion | Technology and workflow products serving mortgage markets. |
ICE also reported FY2025 recurring revenue of $5.056 billion and transaction revenue of $4.875 billion. This is a separate way of describing revenue, not a fourth segment: the recurring-versus-transaction split cuts across the segment view.
CME Group’s fees, data, and derivatives marketplace
CME Group reported $6.5206 billion in FY2025 revenue. Its reported revenue lines emphasize clearing and transaction fees, with a separate market-data category and a smaller other-revenue line.
| CME Group FY2025 reported revenue line | Revenue |
|---|---|
| Clearing and transaction fees | $5.2811 billion |
| Market data and information services | $803.1 million |
| Other revenue | $436.4 million |
The company describes its marketplace as spanning futures, options, cash, and over-the-counter (OTC) markets. Its footprint includes CME, CBOT, NYMEX, and COMEX; CME Globex for futures and options; BrokerTec for fixed-income trading; EBS for foreign exchange; and CME Clearing.
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What the reported mix does—and does not—show
ICE has a broader-looking segment presentation
ICE’s three reported segments make its exposure to mortgage technology visible alongside exchanges and fixed income and data services. That is a useful portfolio distinction, but segment labels alone do not establish that one company is more diversified or better positioned than the other.
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CME’s reported revenue is concentrated in clearing and transaction fees
Clearing and transaction fees make up CME Group’s largest reported revenue line; market data and information services provide another material source. ICE’s Exchanges segment also includes transaction-sensitive activity as well as data, connectivity, and listing revenue, so it should not be equated with CME’s clearing and transaction fees.
Recurring revenue is not a like-for-like comparison
ICE explicitly reported $5.056 billion as recurring revenue. CME Group’s cited FY2025 results do not provide an equivalent recurring-versus-transaction split. Comparing ICE’s recurring figure directly with CME’s market-data revenue would mix different classifications.
Trading volume is an activity measure, not revenue
CME Group reported average daily volume of 28.1 million contracts in FY2025, up 6% from 2024. That figure indicates the scale of its futures and options activity; it cannot be ranked against ICE without a matched ICE activity measure, scope, and definition.
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How to compare the businesses for your purpose
- For portfolio scope: Compare the activities included in each company’s reported segments, and note that ICE explicitly reports Mortgage Technology while CME’s presentation centers on its derivatives marketplace and related services.
- For revenue mix: Use each company’s own categories. ICE’s segment figures and recurring/transaction split answer different questions from CME’s clearing and transaction fees, market data, and other lines.
- For information services: Recognize market data as a meaningful part of both businesses, but do not assume their reported data figures cover identical products or accounting categories.
- For activity and scale: Compare volume only when products, periods, and measurement definitions align. CME’s 28.1 million average daily contracts is not an apples-to-apples comparison with an unmatched ICE figure.
- For investment analysis: Treat these historical operating figures as inputs, not a verdict. They do not by themselves establish valuation, future performance, or which company is the better investment.
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