CME's new GLOBEX® eFX pricing initiatives are targeted to three customer segments: CME equity members, non-member eFX automated market makers, and 106H member firms.
"We believe CME's foreign exchange complex has strong growth potential in the near future," said CME Chairman Terry Duffy. "This aggressive pricing strategy reflects our ongoing commitment to electronic trading and to providing new opportunities for our increasingly global eFX customer base."
"We have a great success story in CME's eFX products, with March volume up 144 percent and first quarter volume up 152 percent from year-ago levels," added CME Chief Executive Officer Craig Donohue. "This pricing strategy reflects our continued focus on attracting new eFX customers to CME while providing our existing customers with cost efficient and highly liquid benchmark products. We believe it will create growth for our business and add value for our shareholders."
In May, CME will launch a new 12-month GLOBEX fee incentive program designed to incentivize equity member firms to grow their proprietary non-automated trading volume. The minimum volume qualification is 150,000 sides per month. The new volume discounts, which include both GLOBEX and clearing fees, are as follows:
|
Volume |
New Pricing |
|
0-150,000 sides/month |
$0.20 |
|
Greater than 150,000 sides/month |
$0.10 |
If volume thresholds are not met, members will continue to qualify under existing member incentives, as follows:
|
Volume |
Pricing |
|
0-50,000 sides/month |
$0.30 |
|
50-150,000 sides/month |
$0.20 |
|
Greater than 150,000 sides/month |
$0.15 |
Effective May 3, CME will launch an incentive pricing program designed to attract increased eFX trading by 106H members, such as fund managers, by making fees more competitive with alternative trading venues. CME eFX trading fee, which includes GLOBEX and clearing fees, will be lowered for 106H members to $0.44 from $0.70.
Also on May 3, CME will launch a non-member eFX automated market maker incentive program designed to attract automated trading systems presently quoting over-the-counter (OTC) FX trading platforms. The fee schedule, which includes GLOBEX and clearing fees, is as follows:
|
Volume |
Pricing |
|
0-75,000 sides/month |
$0.44 |
|
75-250,000 sides/month |
$0.30 |
|
Greater than 250,000 sides/month |
$0.25 |
CME's foreign exchange markets continued to post strong volume growth in March 2004 with an all-time record of 4.8 million contracts traded, up 31 percent versus year-ago levels, and for the first time averaged above 200,000 contracts per day. FX volume was 49 percent higher for the first quarter of 2004 compared to last year. In 2003, CME's foreign exchange complex saw year-on-year volume increase 40 percent to over 34 million contracts, the best volume year for CME's FX complex since 1994.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (www.cme.com) is the largest futures exchange in the United States. As an international marketplace, CME brings together buyers and sellers on its trading floors and GLOBEX® electronic trading platform. CME offers futures and options on futures primarily in four product areas: interest rates, stock indexes, foreign exchange and commodities. The exchange moved about $1.5 billion per day in settlement payments in the first quarter of 2004 and managed $38.6 billion in collateral deposits as of March 31, 2004. CME is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. (NYSE:CME), which is part of the Russell 1000® Index.
Statements in this news release that are not historical facts are 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 our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, 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.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CME, the globe logo and GLOBEX are registered trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. Further information about CME and its products is available on the CME Web site at www.cme.com.
