CME Group
Financials
43
out of 100. Number 269 of 512, counting from the worst.
Where CME Group does well
- Renewals 0 of 20. Nothing found.
- Data retention 3 of 15. Few problems found.
- No auto-renewal or cancellation traps exist anywhere on CME's consumer surface — there is simply nothing to subscribe to, and nothing found scores in that category.
- The privacy notices are candid about California 'sell/share' activity and give users an explicit opt-out path (Privacy Request Form, Cookie Settings, and honoring the Global Privacy Control signal), plus a no-discrimination promise for exercising rights.
- The Candidate Privacy Notice is unusually thorough and plain-language for a B2B company, and CME publishes separate regional/employee notices rather than burying everyone in one document.
- CME also declines to serve web 'do-not-track' signals openly rather than silently ignoring them, and publishes a sweepstakes winner-list practice only with explicit entrant consent.
Simply visiting cmegroup.com binds you to binding arbitration with no class actions allowed — disputes are heard only by a private AAA arbitrator in Chicago, Illinois.
The fine print
6 clauses and findings from the draft archive, dated 1 October 2026. The plain English comes first; the small print is the company's own words. None of these has been checked yet.
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Simply visiting cmegroup.com binds you to binding arbitration with no class actions allowed — disputes are heard only by a private AAA arbitrator in Chicago, Illinois.
BY ACCESSING OR USING THE WEBSITE AND ACCEPTING THESE TERMS OF USE, YOU AND WE ARE AGREEING TO RESOLVE ANY DISPUTE BETWEEN US ... THROUGH A DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCEDURE DESCRIBED IN SECTION 21 BELOW. YOU AND WE WAIVE THE RIGHT TO BRING OR PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION IN CONNECTION WITH SUCH DISPUTES. ... shall be settled by arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association in accordance with its Commercial Arbitration Rules ... The place of arbitration shall be Chicago, Illinois.
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Before you can even start arbitration you must hand-write a personally-signed (not from your lawyer) dispute notice, grant CME permission to share your website-use data with your own attorney, and attend a mandatory settlement conference — then resolve it within 60 days, or lose the claim forever after one year, far shorter than most state statutes of limitation.
such party must first send an individualized Notice of Dispute ... The Notice of Dispute must contain ... a personally signed statement (from you or us — not from your or our counsel) verifying the accuracy of the contents ... if you are represented by counsel, your signed statement authorizing CME to disclose any information regarding your access or use of the Website to your attorney ... the parties shall engage in a good faith effort to resolve the dispute for a period of 60 days ... You agree that ... any claim or cause of action ... must be filed within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arose or be forever barred.
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CME can rewrite the terms whenever it wants, without telling you, and just by staying on the site afterward you have agreed to the new version.
CME may, in its sole discretion, change or update these Terms of Use at any time with or without notice to you. Your continued use of the Website after any such changes to these Terms of Use will indicate your acceptance of the amended Terms of Use.
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No matter what goes wrong, CME's total liability is capped at whatever fees you paid in the last 12 months — and never more than $50.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF ANY CME GROUP ENTITY ... HEREUNDER EXCEED THE LESSER OF: (A) THE FEES PAID TO CME BY YOU HEREUNDER IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM; OR (B) FIFTY US DOLLARS ($50).
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In CME's trading simulator you own nothing — not even your account. CME can wipe your account and everything in it at any time, without notice, for any reason, while you grant them a broad right to use anything you submitted.
You further understand and agree that you have no ownership rights in any account you may have with CME, or other access to the Platform or features therein. CME may cancel your account and delete all content therein, including any content or information provided by or on your behalf or associated with your account and/or use, at any time, and without notice, if CME deems that you have violated this Agreement, the law, or for any other reason. ... You represent and warrant that you own all content and information submitted ... and grant CME, Company and their respective designees the right to use all such content and information for its respective business purposes.
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CME states it may 'sell' or 'share' your commercial information, behavioral inferences, and geolocation data with advertising and analytics partners — it does not limit the claim to monetary transactions.
The chart below describes the categories of California Personal Information we collect ... as well as the categories of third parties to whom we may disclose, 'sell' or 'share' (as those terms are defined under California law) each category ... Commercial Information ... Inferences drawn from the information collected ... Geolocation Data ... | Advertising and analytics partners
How these were found
Sources: CME Website Terms of Use read in full via browser_open (version stamped 'Last updated 1/31/2025'). The General Privacy Notice page (cmegroup.com/privacy-policy/general.html) timed out on direct fetch; its clauses above are taken from indexed snippets of that exact official-domain page (crawled ~4 days before research). The GPC/Do-Not-Track language is quoted from the CME Candidate Privacy Notice (a separate audience-specific notice), not the General notice. An October 2025 'Terms of Use AI Updates' email preview (which adds a perpetual license grant over AI-tool prompts) was excluded because it is a for-publication draft, not the live terms. Trading Simulation EULA and Sweepstakes rules are supplementary consumer-facing docs. CME Group is a B2B futures-exchange operator with a thin consumer surface: no subscriptions, auto-renewal, or cancellation flows were found, and the score reflects what actually exists.
These notes come from the original draft and are not independent verification.