The E-mini feeder cattle contract is the CME's second traditional agricultural product to be designated for the E-mini format. Last month, the CME announced it would also create an E-mini lean hog contract. The CME has filed its notice of intent to begin trading that contract with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
"In recent months, the CME's E-mini equity products have been setting an especially remarkable string of volume records," said CME Chairman Scott Gordon. "As more investors discover the benefits and convenience of our E-mini products, it is natural to diversify the products available through this structure."
"The CME's E-mini feeder cattle contracts further expand the opportunities for individual investors and smaller businesses to utilize our agricultural products," said CME President and CEO James J. McNulty.
The proposed E-mini feeder cattle contracts are sized at 10,000 pounds, or one-fifth of the CME's standard-sized contract. The E-mini version of the contracts will be "fungible" with the standard-sized contracts, allowing traders to offset E-mini trades with an equivalent quantity of larger contracts at a ratio of five-to-one. The minimum price increment for E-mini feeder cattle will be $0.10 per hundredweight, equal to $10 per contract, with the same daily price limits of the larger contracts. Trading hours will be from 9:05 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. (Central Time), corresponding to the trading hours of the standard sized contract.
The CME has been trading an average of over 85,000 E-mini contracts per day in the first three months of 2000. The CME currently trades E-mini products based on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 stock indexes and the EuroFX and Japanese yen currencies.
