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CBOT Average Daily Volume Jumps 22 Percent In January Over Last Year - Exchange Electronic Average Daily Volume Grows 34 Percent

Date 01/02/2006

The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT®) today announced that January’s average daily volume (ADV) for the Exchange is off to a strong start in 2006, outpacing January 2005 by 22 percent and climbing to 2,757,081 contracts. The CBOT also reported strong ADV growth in electronic volume. The Exchange’s electronic ADV grew 34 percent over January 2005 to 1,933,642 contracts. The CBOT’s electronic volume represented 70 percent of total Exchange volume for January.

The CBOT’s product categories, consisting of commodities, interest rate, metals and equities, all reported volume growth in January. Open interest in the Exchange’s commodities products also climbed during January, and its Wheat and Corn futures contracts achieved multiple open interest records last month.

January Product Highlights

Precious Metals

The CBOT’s 100 percent electronically-traded Precious Metals complex continues to experience growth in volume and open interest, particularly in its Gold futures complex, consisting of full-sized (100 oz.) Gold futures and mini-sized (33.2 oz.) futures contracts. The CBOT’s Gold futures complex had a market share of approximately 15 percent of listed gold futures traded in North America based on volume for the month of January.

CBOT full-sized Gold futures electronic ADV grew 931 percent to 13,469 contracts in January 2006, versus 1,306 contracts reported in January 2005.

  • CBOT mini-sized Gold futures electronic ADV grew 314 percent to 6,419 contracts in January 2006, versus 1,547 contracts reported in January 2005.
  • Electronic ADV for the CBOT’s Silver complex, consisting of full-sized (5,000 oz.) Silver futures and mini-sized (1,000 oz.) Silver futures contracts also grew in January 2006, versus January 2005. Electronic ADV for the CBOT’s full-sized Silver futures rose 465 percent to 1,126 contracts, and mini-sized Silver futures rose 140 percent to 1,387 contracts.

Financial Options

CBOT Financial options experienced its highest electronic volume month ever with 1,023,084 contracts traded in January. Approximately, 13 percent of all Financial options traded electronically in January.

The electronic ADV for all CBOT’s Financial options also increased significantly by 244 percent to 51,154 contracts vs. 14,862 contracts reported in January 2005. The electronic ADV for the CBOT’s 30-Year U.S. Treasury Bond options increased by 247 percent to 6,598 contracts versus 1,900 contracts reported in January 2005, and electronic ADV for the CBOT 10-Year U.S. Treasury Note options also increased by 280 percent to 39,429 contracts versus 10,373 contracts reported in January 2005.

  • The CBOT’s Two-Year U.S. Treasury Note options ADV increased ten-fold to 2,104 contracts versus 149 contracts reported in January 2005. The contract reached a new daily volume record on January 25, 2006 of 9,739 contracts.

CBOT Monthly Electronic Volume Records Set in January:

  • 30-Year Treasury Bond options – new record: 131,959 contracts; prior record: 131,936 contracts set November 2005.
  • 10-Year Treasury Note options – new record: 788,570 contracts; prior record: 572,076 contracts set November 2005.
  • Two-Year Treasury Note options – new record: 8,989 contracts; prior record: 1,216 contracts set December 2005.
  • Metals Complex – new record: 448,026 contracts; prior record: 252,631 contracts set December 2005.
  • Gold Complex – new record: 397,759 contracts; prior record: 219,968 contracts set December 2005.
  • Silver Complex – new record: 50,267 contracts; prior record: 34,441 contracts set November 2005.
  • Full-sized Gold futures – new record: 269,372 contracts; prior record: 141,280 contracts set December 2005.
  • Full-sized Silver futures – new record: 22,520 contracts; prior record: 13,719 contracts set November 2005.
  • Mini-sized Gold futures – new record: 128,387 contracts, prior record: 78,688 contracts set December 2005.
  • Mini-sized Silver futures – new record: 27,747 contracts, prior record: 27,565 contracts set April 2005.
  • Soybean Oil futures – new record: 6,612 contracts; prior record: 6,007 contracts set March 2004.

CBOT Electronic Daily Volume Records Set in January:

  • Two-Year Treasury Note options – new record: 6,039 contracts set on January 25, 2006; prior record: 500 contracts set on January 6, 2006. The substantial increase in volume follows the launch of the CBOT’s Electronic Market Maker (EMM) program announced in November 2005.
  • Metals Complex – new record: 37,632 contracts set on January 20, 2006; prior record: 27,837 contracts set on January 9, 2006.
  • Gold Complex – new record: 34,346 contracts set on January 20, 2006; prior record: 25,226 contracts set on January 9, 2006.
  • Silver Complex – new record: 4,818 contracts set on January 25, 2006; prior record: 3,915 contracts set on December 8, 2005.
  • Full-sized Gold futures – new record: 23,433 contracts set on January 20, 2006; prior record: 15,544 contracts set on January 9, 2006.
  • Mini-sized Gold futures – new record: 10,913 contracts set on January 20, 2006; prior record: 9,682 contracts set on January 9, 2006.
  • Full-sized Silver futures – new record: 2,103 contracts set on January 25, 2006; prior record: 1,616 contracts set on January 24, 2006.
  • Soybean options – new record: 542 contracts set on January 30, 2006; prior record: 317 contracts set on March 15, 2005.

Daily Open Interest Records

  • Two-Year Treasury Note futures – new record: 478,377 set on January 31, 2006; prior record: 465,918 contracts set on January 23, 2006.
  • Two-Year Treasury Note options – new record: 31,819 contracts set on January 25, 2006; prior record: 25,087 contracts set on January 24, 2006.
  • Wheat futures – new record: 349,250 contracts set on January 31, 2006; prior record: 342,223 contracts set on January 30, 2006.
  • Corn futures – new record: 974,780 contracts set on January 31, 2006; prior record: 957,882 contracts set on January 30, 2006.
  • Soybean futures – new record: 341,975 contracts set on January 31, 2006; prior record: 341,011 contracts set on June 23, 2005.
  • Full-sized Gold futures – new record: 15,330 contracts set on January 30, 2006; prior record: 15,139 contracts set on January 27, 2006.
  • Full-sized Silver futures – new record: 2,366 contracts set on January 30, 2006; prior record: 2,316 contracts set on January 27, 2006.
  • Metals Complex – new record: 26,576 contracts set on January 30, 2006; prior record: 25,549 contracts set on January 27, 2006.

For more information on CBOT, to view all of the Exchange’s daily and monthly volume and open interest records and details on ADV and volume for January, please visit the Exchange’s web site at www.cbot.com.

Forward Looking Statements
In this release, our use of the words “may,” “will,” “should,” “could,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential” or “continue” or other comparable terminology is intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. More detailed information about factors that may affect our performance may be found in filings made by CBOT Holdings, Inc. with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which can be obtained at its website at www.sec.gov. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.