Booming Equity Markets, Electronic Trading Fuel Solid Volume Year For Chicago Mercantile Exchange

The booming U.S. stock market and growth in electronic trading helped the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) mark one of its best years ever in 1999, as equity index products posted record volume for the year. Total 1999 CME volume was 200,737,123 contracts, representing an underlying value of $138.3 trillion. Total volume for all equity index products at the CME in 1999 was 48,065,981- a 9.1 percent increase over 1998 activity. Electronic trading at the CME continued to grow rapidly with total 1999 volume traded through the CME's GLOBEX®2 system hitting a new record of 16.1 million contracts. Electronic trading volume was up nearly 81 percent compared to the prior year, marking the sixth consecutive record year. Equity index futures finished the year by setting an all-time monthly record in December, led by Nasdaq 100 and E-mini Nasdaq 100 futures. Numerous other individual products also set December monthly records, including E-mini S&P 500 futures, Nikkei 225 futures, S&P/BARRA Value futures, EuroFX futures, Australian dollar futures and South African rand futures. "The record year in our equity index product line reflects the usage of our products by a growing segment of the investing public to capitalize on the growth in the U.S. stock market," said CME Chairman Scott Gordon. Two new products introduced in 1999 - EuroFX futures, introduced Jan. 3, and E-mini Nasdaq 100 futures, introduced June 22 - also achieved exceptionally strong first year trading levels with respective volumes of 3,002,453 and 682,059. Exchange-wide volume was down from record 1998 levels when the continuing international financial crisis in Asia and Russia created unprecendented demand globally for risk management products. "The Chicago Mercantile Exchange posted solid trading activity, especially given the comparative lack of significant volatility in global financial markets in 1999," Gordon said. Total 1999 volume was about 5,000 contracts, or two-thousandths of one percent, below the third most active year in 1997. Open interest, the number of contracts outstanding at the close of trading, stood at 6,412,014 contracts at the end of 1999. Gordon also noted that the CME technical staff enabled the Exchange's trading support to seamlessly move into the year 2000 without any disruptions in trading. The first market trading in the U.S. in the new century was conducted on the CME's GLOBEX2 system.