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Fueling the CBOT's strong February showing was the consistently solid trading activity in the exchange's Treasury markets. Some high notes were Ten-year Treasury Note futures setting a daily volume record of 1,302,830 contracts and an open interest high of 1,385,646 contracts on February 26, 2004. Two-year Treasury Note futures traded a record 115,115 contracts on February 26, 2004 and posted a new open interest record on February 27, 2004 of 238,814 contracts.
Total exchange month-end open interest was 9,160,889, up 43.5 percent from February 2003.
Chairman Charles P. Carey said, "The CBOT's tremendous February volume and open interest performance in both our financial and agricultural markets only reinforces my belief that customers keep coming to the CBOT because they want what we have to offer?the best clearing system, a superior trading technology and a liquid, open accessible marketplace that addresses the needs of all users."
Agricultural Futures and Options
Concerns about a shortage of U.S. grain and oilseed supplies, increases in export demand, and problems with Brazilian soybeans keep trading in the CBOT's agricultural markets active. Overall, CBOT agricultural futures and options were up 56.2 percent from February 2003 and up 16.6 percent from last month at 7,991,462 contracts. Corn futures were up 51.8 percent from February 2003 and up 16.8 percent from last month, trading 2,367,019 contracts. Soybean futures were up 53.7 percent from February 2003 and up 24.5 percent from the previous month at 1,879,623 contracts traded. CBOT Soybean Meal and Soybean Oil futures posted gains of 39.1 percent and 33.7 percent from February 2003 at 767,052 and 722,580, respectively.
The CBOT posted daily volume and open interest records in the following agricultural products: mini-sized Soybean futures set a daily volume record on February 23, 2004 of 4,275 contracts; Soybean Meal futures set a daily open interest record on February 23, 2004 of 193,113; Soybean Oil futures set a daily open interest record on February 23, 2004 of 220,447 contracts; Corn futures set a daily open interest record on February 24, 2004 of 655,950 contracts.
Financial Futures and Options Volume
Driving the exchange's phenomenal February volume gains is the strong performance of its financial futures and options complex, with February trading volume for the entire financial product line at 34,305,681 contracts, up 32.4 percent from February 2003 and up 5.2 percent from the previous month.
Ten-Year Treasury Note futures totaled 14,569,783 contracts for the month, up 35.6 percent from February 2003 and up 7.1 percent from last month. In addition, Five-Year Treasury Note futures were up 42.7 percent from February 2003 and up 26.2 percent from last month at 7,388,783; Two-Year Treasury Note totaled 829,814 contracts for the month, up 111.2 percent from February 2003 and up 167.3 percent from last month. Also, Five-Year Treasury Note options set a daily volume record on February 11, 2004 of 115,432 contracts.
Equity Complex Volume Increases in February
CBOT's DJIASM Index complex trade was up 45.6% from February 2003 at 1,469,849 contracts. CBOT DJIA futures contracts traded 207,423 contracts for February 2004, with mini ($5) Dow JonesSM Industrial Index futures up 116.8 percent from February 2003 at 1,241,009 contracts. In addition, Dow Jones Industrial AverageSM options increased 3.2 percent from February 2003 at 11,444 contracts.
Other CBOT February Highlights
- The CBOT's electronic trading system volume reached 22,752,863 contracts, up 49.5 percent from February 2003.
- Year-to-date, 1,377,620 futures and options orders, excluding futures spreads, were electronically sent directly to floor brokers using order receipt devices. Total futures and option orders filled for February 2003 was 862,490. This is an increase of over half a million orders filled using the electronic clerk.
- The most recent sales of CBOT seats were as follows: CBOT Full Membership at $600,000 on February 12, 2004; CBOT Associate Membership at $240,000 on February 13, 2004; CBOT Commodity Options membership at $48,500 on February 13, 2004; and CBOT IDEM membership at $22,675 on February 20, 2004.
