CBOT Announces Lower Transaction Fees For New Mini-sized Contract

The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT®) today announced it will lower exchange transaction fees, effective immediately, for the following mini-sized contracts launched on September 30: DowSM futures based on the DJIA^SM (Dow^SMJones Industrial Average); 30-year U.S. Treasury Bond futures; 10-year U.S. Treasury Note futures; and New York Silver and New York Gold futures. In addition, the CBOT® is offering free quotes for its mini-sized futures for CBOT® data vendors through December 2001.

The new exchange transaction fees for the CBOT® mini-contracts are as follows (All rates are "per side"):

• mini-sized DowSM (Member) $.05 (Delegate) $.45 (Customer) $1.00
• mini-sized N.Y. Gold (Member) $.05 (Delegate) $.25 (Customer) $ .50
• mini-sized N.Y. Silver (Member) $.05 (Delegate) $.25 (Customer) $ .50
• mini-sized 30-yr. Bond (Member) $.15 (Delegate) $.25 (Customer) $ .50
• mini-sized 10-yr. Note (Member) $.15 (Delegate) $.25 (Customer) $ .50

CBOT® Executive Vice President Bernard W. Dan said, "As the CBOT® moves to be a more product-driven exchange, we lowered the transaction fees on these mini-sized contracts in order to build more liquidity and provide incentives for trading. These new contracts trade exclusively on our electronic trading system, and offer market users and investors the opportunity to trade some of the world's most popular futures contracts with less exposure and lower margin requirements."

For more information on the CBOT®'s mini-sized contracts, including its pricing structure, log onto the exchange web site at www.cbot.com/mini.

"Dow^SMJones," "Dow^SMJones Industrial Average," and "DJIA^SM" are service marks of DowSMJones & Company, Inc. and have been licensed for use for certain purposes by the CBOT®. The CBOT®'s futures and futures options contracts based on the DowSMJones Industrial Average are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Dow^SMJones, and Dow^SMJones makes no representation regarding the advisability of trading in such product(s).