“Customers have told us they want direct electronic access to our markets, particularly our popular E-mini products, and we are responding,” said Chairman Scott Gordon. “This move complements our earlier announcements about opening access and increasing trade execution choices – such as the addition of block trading – in our markets.” “Implementing measures to increase customer access to our markets is a sound business decision to promote our growth as a premier global marketplace,” President and CEO Jim McNulty said. “We are pursuing a variety of additional programs to reach out to new customers and build business with our existing customer base.”
Effective immediately:
- CME now allows unlimited, direct electronic access to products traded on CME’s GLOBEX®2 system for all market participants who are guaranteed by a clearing member of the exchange. Previously, GLOBEX2 was accessible only to members, clearing members or those with Electronic Trading Hours (ETH) permits.
- The exchange has phased out its ETH permit program, which previously required non-members to meet CME’s qualification requirements and pay an application fee. No more ETH permits will be issued, and current permits will expire at the end of their effective period.
- CME has removed limitations on customer access to the “book,” allowing customers to view bids and offers in GLOBEX2 products.
- CME has eliminated restrictions on the number of GLOBEX2 workstations that members and customers can have.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (www.cme.com) is an international marketplace that brings together buyers and sellers on its trading floors and GLOBEX2 around-the-clock electronic trading system. CME offers futures contracts and options on futures primarily in four product areas: interest rates, stock indexes, foreign currencies and agricultural commodities. All over the world, pension funds and investment advisers, portfolio managers, corporate treasurers and commercial banks trade on CME as an integral part of their financial management strategy. In 1999, more than 200 million contracts with an underlying value of more than $138 trillion – more than seven times the gross national product of the world’s five largest economies – changed hands at CME. The exchange moves about $1 billion per day in settlement payments, manages $20 billion in collateral deposits and administers more than $1 billion of letters of credit. On Nov. 13, 2000, CME finalized its transformation into a for-profit, shareholder-owned corporation as it became the first U.S. financial exchange to demutualize by converting its membership interests into shares of common stock that can trade separately from exchange trading privileges.
