CBOT Gold options serve as a complement to the Exchange’s Full-sized Gold futures contracts. The CBOT Gold complex has enjoyed considerable success – accounting for approximately 23 percent of listed Gold futures traded in North America based on February 2006 volumes.
“With the outstanding growth and liquidity in the CBOT Gold complex, the timing was right to introduce Gold options,” said Robert Ray, CBOT Senior Vice President of Business Development. “With the superior functionality of our electronic trading platform and four market makers in place, our new Gold options offer greater trading flexibility and another terrific opportunity for CBOT market participants.”
The CBOT’s Precious Metals complex continued to experience considerable success in February 2006 (see chart below). Average daily volume (ADV) for the Exchange’s Metals futures contracts reached 20,716 contracts last month. The CBOT’s Precious Metals complex includes Full-sized (100 oz.) Gold futures, mini-sized (33.2 oz.) Gold futures, Full-sized (5,000 oz.) Silver futures and mini-sized (1,000 oz.) Silver futures contracts.
CBOT Gold options trade under the ticker symbol of OZG (OZGC for calls and OZGP for puts). Infinium Capital Management, Optiver US, LLC Wolverine Trading LLC and Consolidated Trading LLC are serving as electronic market makers, providing two-sided markets during daytime hours for the new contract.
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 157-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 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 Web site 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.