Less than two weeks before today's 10th anniversary-on June 12-CME volume on GLOBEX exceeded one million contracts traded for the first time in a single day as 1,028,191 contracts changed hands. For the first five months of this year, average daily volume on GLOBEX was more than half a million contracts. Yesterday's record volume in E-mini S&P 500 futures surpassed a record of 615,323 set on June 12.
On June 26, 1992, the trade date for GLOBEX's launch, CME volume totalled 1,893 Deutsche mark and Japanese yen futures and options on futures contracts.
GLOBEX was originally based on Reuters technology, and terminals were hard-wired to Reuters' global network anchored to a mainframe computer in Hauppauge, New York. In 1998, CME implemented the second generation of the GLOBEX platform using a modified version of the NSC trading system developed by Paris-Bourse for MATIF (now Euronext). CME's fully trained development team modifies, maintains and upgrades CME's version of the trading system to meet the needs of CME customers and members.
When the original system was launched in 1992, an announcement stated that response times for trades would be within three seconds. System improvements have enabled CME to reduce the average response time for getting a message in and out of the match engine from 1.2 seconds at the beginning of 2001 to 0.45 seconds at year-end. That time was reduced even further by March 31, 2002 to 0.16 seconds.
On Sept. 9, 1997, CME brought its most popular stock index product to a new base of customers when it launched E-mini S&P 500 futures, sized at one-fifth the standard, pit-traded contract size and "fungible" with an equal dollar value of standard sized contracts. The product introduction represented the first time CME offered electronic trading capability nearly 23 hours a day, five days a week.
The E-mini concept spawned a series of new smaller, electronically traded versions of established CME products and successfully combined open outcry and electronic trading.
E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures were launched in 1999, followed more recently by E-mini S&P MidCap 400 futures and E-mini Russell 2000 futures.
Historic milestones include:
- June 25, 1992-GLOBEX begins trading at 6 p.m. (Chicago time). Overnight volume for CME products on the system's first day totals 1,893 Deutsche mark and Japanese yen futures and options on futures.
- July 1992-GLOBEX adds British pound, Swiss franc, Australian dollar and Canadian dollar futures and options to the system.
- August 1992-CME's benchmark three-month Eurodollar futures and options on futures debut on GLOBEX.
- September 1993-CME's benchmark S&P 500 futures and options on futures are first listed on GLOBEX.
- September 1997-CME launches E-mini S&P 500 futures, for the first time offering electronic trading during open outcry hours (Regular Trading Hours). The contract, which trades approximately 23 hours a day, five days per week, will become the fastest growing product in CME history.
- August 1998-Electronic trading volume of CME products surpasses the one million contract mark for the first time in a single month, setting an all-time record.
- June 1999-E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures begin trading. Along with E-mini S&P 500 futures, the products became CME's two fastest growing products in history.
- July 1999-"Side-by-side" electronic trading of Eurodollars during Regular Trading Hours begins.
- May 2000-Market Data API is introduced. The new interface provides the depth of the book with GLOBEX market data.
- April 2001-Side-by-side electronic trading of foreign exchange products during Regular Trading hours begins on GLOBEX.
- May 16, 2002-New eFX products launched include 11 non-dollar cross rates and two dollar-based products that trade on GLOBEX or as All-Or-None (AON) orders via open outcry.
- June 12, 2002-GLOBEX breaks the one-million milestone in a single day, with 1,028,191 contracts traded.
- June 17, 2002-e-miNYsm crude oil and natural gas futures begin trading. The New York Mercantile Exchange products, based on CME's successful E-mini product concept, trade on GLOBEX and clear on the New York Mercantile Exchange clearinghouse.
- July 14, 2002-The GLOBEX "Eagle Project" brings the most advanced technology to date to the GLOBEX platform, for trading calendar spreads in Eurodollars.
