CBOT To Expand Its Listings Of Options On U.S. Treasury Futures

The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) announced today that the Exchange’s Board of Directors approved an initiative to expand CBOT listings of U.S. Treasury options on futures to include expirations that match all of the listed months of its U.S. Treasury futures. The move will enable market participants to trade options on U.S. Treasury futures one year in advance of their expiration.

The CBOT will list strike prices for options dated to expire in March 2006 when transactions have been posted for the underlying March 2006 Treasury futures.

CBOT President and CEO Bernard W. Dan said, “This decision was made in response to customers who requested greater availability of back-month U.S. Treasury options. The expansion in listings is also designed to further increase the liquidity in both CBOT futures and options on futures. The CBOT provides the world’s deepest pool of liquidity in U.S. Treasury futures and options to market participants globally, and we are constantly striving to introduce new initiatives to meet the needs of our customers.”

Currently, the Exchange lists options on U.S. Treasury futures with nine months or less until expiration. For contracts including U.S. Treasury Bond futures, and Ten-, Five-, and Two-year U.S. Treasury Note futures, the Exchange lists five option expiries for trading: three quarterly expiries corresponding to each of the nearest three quarterly futures expiries, and two near-dated monthly serial expiries.