The move follows the launch of round-the-clock trading in its 1-ounce gold futures on July 24. Since then, more than 53,000 contracts have traded during the newly added weekend sessions, with a notional value of about $219 million, according to CME Group.
The 100-ounce silver futures contract was launched in February 2026. It recorded an average daily volume of 17,800 contracts in the first half of 2026, CME Group said.
The contract is financially settled and uses the daily settlement price of the COMEX 5,000-ounce silver futures contract. It is listed on COMEX and is subject to its rules.
CME Group said its silver futures recorded an average daily notional trading volume of $50 billion in the first half of 2026.
The exchange operator also said its metals business averaged 1.3 million contracts traded per day in the first half of 2026, up 55% from a year earlier. The increase was driven by activity in precious metals.
The planned expansion would give participants access to the 100-ounce silver futures contract during the weekend as well as regular trading sessions, extending the 24/7 trading model CME Group introduced for its smaller gold futures contract in July.
The development comes at a time when India’s silver jewellery market is seeing a higher demand. The number of silver jewellery articles hallmarked through the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) rose to 5.9 million in 2025-26 from 3.2 million in 2024-25, according to official data.
Nishat S Haque, Deputy Director General (Laboratories), BIS, said the agency is preparing to scale up silver jewellery testing as demand increases. BIS currently has around 230 recognised Assaying and Hallmarking Centress for silver jewellery and plans to expand its referral and assay laboratory network across the country over the next two years.
Silver hallmarking has been voluntary since 2005. Since September 2025, hallmarked silver articles have carried a Hallmark Unique Identification (HUID) number, allowing buyers to verify the purity of the article.
First Published: Aug 12, 2026 7:44 AM IST
