Cme Group vs Intercontinental Exchange (CME vs ICE)
Side by side from their SEC filings: revenue, margins, growth, returns and valuation, plus short interest, insider activity and institutional ownership.
Intercontinental Exchange is the larger company by revenue ($12.6B vs $6.5B). Cme Group carries the larger market value ($105.7B vs $90.7B). Cme Group runs the higher operating margin (64.9% vs 39.0%). Intercontinental Exchange trades at the lower trailing P/E (22.8x vs 24.9x).
About Cme Group
CME Group Inc. operates as a financial exchange company providing clearing and transaction services for various asset classes including interest rates, equities, foreign exchange, agricultural commodities, energy, and metals. It offers market data and information services to its clients, which include traders, investors, and financial institutions. The company facilitates trading and risk management through its electronic trading platforms and clearinghouses.
About Intercontinental Exchange
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. operates regulated futures and options exchanges, clearinghouses, equities venues, and financial market utilities. The company provides technology-driven trading, clearing, data services, and mortgage technology platforms to customers in the financial markets. It emphasizes cybersecurity risk management to protect its infrastructure, data, and operations from cyber threats.
Head to head (CME FY2025 vs ICE FY2025)
| Metric | CMEFY2025 | ICEFY2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $6.52B | $12.64B |
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 6.4% | 7.5% |
| Gross margin | — | — |
| Operating margin | 64.9% | 39.0% |
| Net margin | 62.5% | 26.2% |
| Net income | $4.07B | $3.31B |
| Diluted EPS | $11.16 | $5.77 |
| FCF margin | 64.3% | 33.9% |
| ROE | 14.2% | 11.4% |
| Long-term debt / equity | — | 0.64× |
| Market cap | $105.67B | $90.70B |
| P/E | 24.9× | 22.8× |
Fundamentals are from each company’s SEC filings (CME FY2025, ICE FY2025). ROE is net income over fiscal-year-end equity; long-term debt / equity counts non-current term debt only. P/E and market cap are derived from stored market prices, last retrieved on a rolling basis and typically within the past week.
Five-year trend (as reported)
| Revenue | FY2021 | FY2022 | FY2023 | FY2024 | FY2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CME | $4.69B | $5.02B | $5.58B | $6.13B | $6.52B |
| ICE | $9.17B | $9.64B | $9.90B | $11.76B | $12.64B |
Peer standing
Where each company ranks among the 424 Financials companies, on the same scale. Each figure is ranked only against peers that report it. Percentiles describe position in the distribution, not a rating.
| Metric | CME | ICE |
|---|---|---|
| Operating margin | 64.9%Highest of 141 | 39.0%86th percentile of 141 |
| Net margin | 62.5%98th percentile of 372 | 26.2%71st percentile of 372 |
| FCF margin | 64.3%95th percentile of 266 | 33.9%76th percentile of 266 |
| Revenue growth (YoY) | +6.4%35th percentile of 418 | +7.5%41st percentile of 418 |
| ROE | 14.2%73rd percentile of 373 | 11.4%61st percentile of 373 |
| P/E | 24.9×83rd percentile of 307 | 22.8×81st percentile of 307 |
| Short interest (days to cover) | 3.17d40th percentile of 417 | 2.44d31st percentile of 417 |
Short interest
| FINRA settlement data | CME | ICE |
|---|---|---|
| Shares sold short | 5.5M | 6.9M |
| Change vs prior settlement | -4.8% | +8.0% |
| Days to cover | 3.17 | 2.44 |
| As of settlement | 2026-09-30 | 2026-09-30 |
Source: FINRA Consolidated Short Interest. FINRA is the owner and source of the FINRA-supplied data; republishing or redistributing it is not permitted. Not presented as a percentage of float. No FINRA endorsement of this product is implied.
Insider activity (last 90 days)
| Form 4 activity (codes P/S) | CME | ICE |
|---|---|---|
| Buys | 1 ($78,626) | 0 |
| Sells | 3 ($4.3M) | 15 ($6.5M) |
Non-derivative purchases (code P) and sales (code S) reported on SEC Form 4, which may be open-market or private (grants, exercises and tax withholding excluded). For context, about 15% of covered companies saw any reported insider purchase (code P) in a 90-day window.
Held by the same investors
10 tracked 13F managers hold both Cme Group and Intercontinental Exchange as of their latest quarterly filings: AQR Capital Management, Citadel Advisors, D. E. Shaw, Gotham Asset Management, Markel Group, Millennium Management, Point72 Asset Management, Renaissance Technologies, Two Sigma Investments, Viking Global Investors. See which superinvestors hold your own portfolio with the smart money checker.
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Data sourced from SEC EDGAR. Figures are as-reported and may be unaudited or restated; verify against the source filings before relying on them. Comparisons are descriptive (higher or lower on a reported figure), not a rating or a recommendation. Informational only. Not investment advice.