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CBOT Full-Sized Gold Futures Set Record As Volume Surpasses 70,000 Contracts

Date 05/10/2006

The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) today announced that trading of its Full-sized (100 oz.) Gold Futures contract reached an all-time high yesterday, as volume surpassed 70,000 for the first time. The new record of 72,193 contracts tops the previous high mark of 69,432 contracts set on September 11, 2006.

On October 2, the contract’s market share of listed Gold futures traded in North America climbed above 60 percent for the first time, capturing 64 percent of all Gold futures volume traded that day. The contract maintained a 54 percent market share for the month of September. Also during that month, the CBOT Gold complex, which consists of Full-sized Gold futures and options and mini-sized (33 oz.) Gold futures contracts, reached an average daily volume of 52,464 contracts – nine times greater than September 2005.

The CBOT Metals Complex includes Full-sized (100 oz.) Gold futures and options contracts, mini-sized (33 oz.) Gold futures contracts, Full-sized (5,000 oz.) Silver futures and options contracts and mini-sized (1,000 oz.) Silver futures contracts. These products are available for trading 22 hours per day on the e-cbot® electronic trading platform. For more information about the CBOT Precious Metals Complex please visit the Exchange’s web site at www.cbot.com/metals.

About the CBOT
As one of the leading global derivative exchanges, the Chicago Board of Trade provides a diverse mix of financial, equity and commodity futures and options-on-futures products. Building on its 158-year history, the CBOT continues to advance into the future using the strength of deep liquidity, market integrity and member-trader expertise. Using superior trading technology in both electronic and open-auction trading platforms, the CBOT provides premier customer service to risk managers and investors worldwide. For more information, visit our website at www.cbot.com.