Intercontinental Exchange Reports Record Liquidity in Natural Gas Markets

Intercontinental Exchange announced record liquidity across its global natural gas and power markets, including record open interest across North American natural gas, as ICE reached record total OI across its futures and options markets of 130.5 million contracts. On May 22, 2026, ICE's global natural gas markets hit record OI of 48 million, up 11% year-over-year, while ICE's global power markets reached record OI of 4 million, up 10 % y/y on May 25, 2026. On the same day, ICE's North American natural gas futures and options markets hit record OI of 41.4 million, up 11% y/y with OI across ICE Henry Hub futures, the U.S. natural gas benchmark, up 13% y/y. OI across ICE's U.S. Financial Gas futures and options markets, which offer a suite of precise risk management tools that reflect the supply and demand dynamics of 70 distinct North American natural gas hubs, is up 8% y/y. "Interest in ICE's natural gas and power markets remains strong as participants hedge regional and international price dynamics, pipeline constraints, infrastructure investments and evolving energy requirements," said Trabue Bland, SVP of Futures Markets at ICE. "The shifting picture for global LNG trade routes is linking natural gas markets across regions, while data center expansion is adding a new layer of demand-side pressure - both of which could tighten the supply and demand balance and weigh on basis spreads. The record open interest reflects how participants worldwide turn to ICE's deeply liquid energy markets to navigate the increasingly interconnected and dynamic price environment we are in. That liquidity, combined with ICE's portfolio margining methodology, IRM 2, is crucial for our customers who benefit from a margin model that captures correlations across energy exposures when they are trading diversified or hedged portfolios across ICE, resulting in precise margin treatment."