The platform is designed to streamline cash-futures Treasury spread trading through connected BrokerTec and CME Globex infrastructure, targeting lower execution risk and broader institutional access.
CME Group said Treasury Link will connect cash U.S. Treasuries and Treasury futures in a single trading workflow, aiming to make spread and basis trading easier, faster and cheaper for institutional participants when it launches in Q4 2026, pending regulatory review. The service is built on the BrokerTec Chicago central limit order book, which launched on October 6, 2025, and is integrated with CME Globex so traders can execute both legs of a cash-futures trade through connected infrastructure rather than separate venues. The platform supports all seven on-the-run benchmark U.S. Treasuries across the curve and offers smaller notional sizes and tighter price increments, features intended to broaden access beyond the largest dealers. Citigroup, J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley are among the initial participants. CME has said the setup is designed to reduce legging risk and improve execution efficiency, building on its FX Link model. CME framed the launch against the scale of the Treasury futures market and demand for more efficient hedging tools. Treasury futures averaged $774 billion in notional daily volume as of 2024, a figure the release said was 109% higher than the reported cash Treasury market. Basis trading involves buying a cash Treasury and selling the related futures contract, or the reverse, to capture the spread between the two. The strategy can be operationally complex because execution timing, margining and clearing must be managed across separate markets. U.S. Treasuries also matter well beyond traditional fixed income, serving as core collateral in global finance and as reserve assets backing major stablecoins including USDT and USDC.