The chairman and chief executive officer of CME Group is Terrence A. Duffy, Bryan Durkin is president.

The Merc trades several types of financial instruments: interest rates, equities, currencies, and commodities.

Trading is conducted in two methods; an open outcry format and the CME Globex electronic system.

An illustrated project to record the hand signal language used in CME's trading pits has been compiled.

[5] September 1998 saw the launch of the second generation of CME Globex using a modified version of the NSC[clarification needed] trading system, developed by Paris Bourse for the MATIF (now Euronext).

[6] Traders connect to CME Globex via Market Data Protocol (MDP) and iLink 2.0 for order routing.

The GAO noted that the exchange made attempts to cut down on malpractice, but that it is likely that illegal activity still occurs.

[14][15][16] In 1919 the Board was restructured and the name changed to Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which reflected a new focus on commodities beyond butter and eggs, including potatoes, onions, and cheese.

[15][18] By the 2000s, CME had expanded to offer four core financial instruments: commodities, foreign exchange, interest rates, and stock indexes.