CME Grouphas turned on around-the-clock trading for its cryptocurrency futures andoptions, opening the regulated derivatives markets through the weekend for thefirst time. The changetook effect on Friday, May 29, and lets clients trade the contracts at anyhour, any day, on the CME Globex platform.The shiftends a long-standing quirk of regulated crypto derivatives, which until nowshut down on weekends and outside set daily hours even as the underlying tokenskept trading nonstop.Weekend Debut Draws ModestVolumeOver theopening weekend, more than 7,200 crypto futures and options contracts traded,worth roughly $50 million in notional value, CME Group said. The company described the activity asevidence of immediate liquidity and demand, though it offered no comparisonfigure.That totalis small set against CME's weekday crypto business. The exchange's cryptoderivatives averaged about 407,200 contracts a day this year, up 46% from ayear earlier, when it signaled the round-the-clock plan and named May 29 as the start date.CME firstfloated the idea late last year, pitching weekend access as a wayto give traders confidence to transact whenever they choose. "Byoffering continuous liquidity over the weekend, we are meeting client demandand bridging the gap between traditional regulated venues and the 24/7 natureof crypto assets," said Tim McCourt, Global Head of Equities, FX andAlternative Products at CME Group.Robinhood, Ripple Primeand Wedbush Back the RolloutSeveralbrokers and clearing firms lined up behind the launch. Robinhood, which began offering CME futures to itsapp users in early 2025, framed the weekend opening as a way for customers to react to pricemoves in real time."Cryptois a 24/7 asset class, and this rollout by CME Group marks the first time ourusers will be able to trade regulated futures contracts at any hour of the day,any day of the week," said JB Mackenzie, VP and GM of Futures andInternational at Robinhood Markets.RipplePrime, acting as a futures commission merchant for the contracts, and WedbushSecurities also said they would support weekend trading. Wedbushnoted it had already been serving clients on a 24/7 basis for more than ayear.Exchanges Race to Closethe Weekend GapCME is notthe first to chase the always-on crowd, and its move lands in a market that hasbeen drifting toward weekend trading for more than a year. Coinbase told regulators in 2025 it plannedto launch 24/7 Bitcoin and Ethereum futures in the US, part of a wider push that promptedthe Commodity Futures Trading Commission to seek public comment onround-the-clock derivatives.Retailbrokers moved faster on the contracts-for-difference side. FOREX.com, a StoneXsubsidiary, rolled out 24/7 crypto CFDs in 2025, following similar steps by HantecMarkets and CMC Markets, while ThinkMarkets had opened weekend crypto CFDtrading earlier still.What setsCME apart is the venue. The contracts are exchange-traded, centrally cleared USfutures rather than CFDs or crypto-native perpetuals, so the weekend openingextends regulated, cleared infrastructure into hours that were previously dark.Not everyone is convinced the direction is settled. The WorldFederation of Exchanges has argued that 24/7 trading is neitherinevitable nor universally desirable, saying trading hours should stay withindividual market operators.Bitcoin Volatility FuturesJoin the ScheduleAlongsidethe broader change, CME said its Bitcoin Volatility futures are now alsoavailable to trade 24/7. The company described the contracts as a way to take aposition on the 30-day implied volatility of bitcoin without betting on pricedirection.Theexpansion caps a steady build-out that began when CME listed its first Bitcoin futures in2017 and lateradded ether, Solana and XRP products. This article was written by Damian Chmiel at www.financemagnates.com.