CHICAGO, Sept. 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today announced that registration for the 23rd annual CME Group University Trading Challenge, which will be held from October 4 to October 30, is now open for interested university students around the world.

The CME Group University Trading Challenge is a hands-on educational experience for undergraduate and graduate students. Teams, led by students or faculty advisors, take on a range of marketplace risks as they work to protect their mock investment portfolios.

Using a simulated, professional-grade trading platform from CQG, teams step into the day-to-day realities of running an investment portfolio–facing the same pressures and possibilities real traders encounter. To sharpen their edge, students can draw on a rich set of available resources, from market data and news to live updates via the Dow Jones newsfeed and The Hightower Report. It all comes together as a real-time test of their ability to read and respond to shifting market dynamics. 

"We're excited to launch this year's Trading Challenge, a program that continues to inspire and equip the next generation of traders worldwide," said Anita Liskey, Global Head of Brand Marketing and Communications at CME Group. "For more than two decades, this one-of-a-kind competition has drawn more than 40,000 participants. We are so pleased to offer students real-world practice in managing risk and seizing opportunities through futures trading."

The deadline for registration for this year's competition is 5:00 p.m. CT on September 29, 2026.

Last year, participation reached a record 615 teams, including approximately 1,800 students from 174 universities across 25 countries. The 2025 winning team came from Universidad de Monterrey in Mexico.

CME Group is committed to educating the next generation of finance professionals on the significance of global derivatives markets and risk management. In addition to interactive events, like the University Trading Challenge, CME Group partners with other industry organizations to offer educational tools, such as Futures Fundamentals, a one-stop educational resource that explains the role of futures markets in everyday life. The goal of the site is to make financial education an engaging experience for anyone, regardless of how well versed they are in the world of finance.

For more information on the CME Group University Trading Challenge, visit https://www.cmegroup.com/events/university-trading-challenge/2026-trading-challenge.html. 

As the world's leading derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) enables clients to trade futures, options, cash and OTC markets, optimize portfolios, and analyze data – empowering market participants worldwide to efficiently manage risk and capture opportunities. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, cryptocurrencies, energy, agricultural products and metals. The company offers futures and options on futures trading through the CME Globex platform, fixed income trading via BrokerTec and foreign exchange trading on the EBS platform. In addition, it operates one of the world's leading central counterparty clearing providers, CME Clearing. 

CME Group, the Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Globex, and E-mini are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. CBOT and Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc. BrokerTec is a trademark of BrokerTec Americas LLC and EBS is a trademark of EBS Group LTD. The S&P 500 Index is a product of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC ("S&P DJI"). "S&P®", "S&P 500®", "SPY®", "SPX®", US 500 and The 500 are trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC; Dow Jones®, DJIA® and Dow Jones Industrial Average are service and/or trademarks of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. These trademarks have been licensed for use by Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. Futures contracts based on the S&P 500 Index are not sponsored, endorsed, marketed, or promoted by S&P DJI, and S&P DJI makes no representation regarding the advisability of investing in such products. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. 

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SOURCE CME Group