As indicated earlier in the year, the CBOT® planned to decommission TOPS as of October 31. However, the Exchange has decided to postpone the decommissioning pending completion of two functional enhancements to the OrderDirectSM API. The first feature to be added is simple 1-to-1 futures calendar spreads entered as Single Line Entry Differentials (SLEDS) which the Exchange will release in September. The second feature, which will be available during the Fourth Quarter 2001, is a process for printing customer order tickets for broker execution in the event of a technology system or device failure. This feature will be similar to the current TOPS printing functionality.
Additionally, throughout the past several months, the Exchange has been conducting performance tuning enhancements to the Sybase database stored procedures which has resulted in consistently strong system performance since May 1. Throughout the remainder of this year, the Exchange will be implementing additional performance tuning enhancements which will further reinforce overall system performance.
After providing firms with time to become familiar with these new features in the OrderDirectSM API, the CBOT® will continue with its plan to decommission TOPS. The decommissioning date is anticipated to be during First Quarter 2002.
For additional information, please contact Bryan Durkin, Senior Vice President, at +1 435-3687 or Tom McCabe, Order Routing Managing Director, at +1 312-341-3121.
