Globex
CME Group's electronic trading platform — the venue where ES, NQ, CL, GC, and virtually all CME futures trade electronically, 23 hours/day.
Globex is the CME Group's electronic matching engine, launched in 1992 and now the dominant venue for futures trading worldwide. Nearly all CME, CBOT, NYMEX, and COMEX futures trade on Globex.
Globex operates Sunday 5:00 PM CT to Friday 4:00 PM CT, with a brief maintenance break each day (4:00–5:00 PM CT). This 23-hour window allows traders to react to overnight news — earnings, central bank decisions, geopolitical events — without waiting for pit open.
The transition to Globex largely ended open-outcry pit trading; the CME closed its last equity-index pits in 2015.
Related Terms
ES (E-mini S&P 500)
The world's most liquid equity index futures contract — tracks the S&P 500, $50 per point, expires quarterly.
BeginnerNQ (E-mini Nasdaq-100)
CME E-mini futures on the Nasdaq-100 index. $20 per point, 0.25-tick. Tracks the top 100 non-financial Nasdaq companies.
BeginnerPit Session vs Electronic
The comparison between historical open-outcry floor trading (the "pit") and the now-dominant electronic Globex/ICE trading sessions.
Beginner