CME Group plans to introduce 24/7 trading for its 100-ounce silver futures on September 11, pending regulatory approval. This follows the strong adoption of its round-the-clock gold futures. The move signals robust interest in precious metals, while rising BIS silver hallmarking data in India reflects a parallel shift toward formalization in the local silver market.
CME Group is preparing to extend its 24/7 trading schedule to its 100-ounce silver futures contract, with a target start date of September 11, 2026. The expansion, which is currently pending regulatory approval, is a strategic effort to capture continuous demand for precious metals trading across global time zones.
This decision comes after the exchange operator successfully launched round-the-clock trading for its 1-ounce gold futures on July 24, 2026. During the initial period of extended weekend hours, the gold contract recorded over 53,000 trades, representing approximately $219 million in trading value. This positive response suggests that investors and traders are increasingly seeking flexibility to hedge or trade metal positions outside of standard market hours.
The 100-ounce silver futures contract, which was first introduced by CME in February 2026, has already established a consistent trading volume, averaging 17,800 contracts per day during the first half of 2026. This contract is financially settled, meaning it tracks the daily settlement price of the larger, benchmark 5,000-ounce COMEX silver futures contract. The broader metals division of CME Group reported a 55% year-over-year increase in average daily contract volume during the first half of 2026, highlighting the strong market appetite for precious metals.
This trend toward active silver trading is also visible in the Indian market, where silver jewellery hallmarking has seen substantial growth. Official data from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) shows that the number of hallmarked silver articles rose to 5.9 million in the 2025-26 fiscal year, up from 3.2 million in 2024-25. With hallmarked silver articles now required to carry a Hallmark Unique Identification (HUID) number since September 2025, consumers and retailers have a more transparent way to verify purity. The BIS has also indicated plans to increase its testing infrastructure to handle this higher volume.
For investors, the primary monitorable for CME Group will be the final regulatory clearance for the September 11 launch and the actual volume generated during the new weekend trading window. While the company has shown strong growth in its metals business, the exchange operator remains subject to market volatility and the inherent risks of futures trading. Some analysts have also noted that factors such as high payout ratios and recent trends in net insider selling are aspects investors typically track when evaluating the company’s capital allocation and management outlook. The success of this 24/7 initiative will largely depend on whether silver market participants consistently utilize these extended hours as they did with gold.