Also on Oct. 29, Euro FX futures set a new electronic volume record of 16,605, surpassing the previous record of 10,988 set on Aug. 28. The new record represents a notional value of approximately $3.7 billion.
CME introduced "side-by-side" electronic and open outcry trading of CME foreign exchange and cross-rate futures contracts on April 2. Electronic foreign exchange futures are completely fungible on a 1:1 basis with their pit-traded counterparts, as both have identical contract specifications. Customers may specify whether they prefer the orders to be executed in the pit or electronically, or let their broker decide which system to use for execution.
CME foreign exchange futures trade electronically on CME's GLOBEX®2 system virtually around the clock, from 4:30 p.m. (Central Time) to 4:00 p.m. the following business day. (On Sundays, trading begins at 5:30 p.m.) Open outcry trading takes place from 7:20 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Daily settlement (mark-to-market) for each foreign exchange contract is to the same 2:00 p.m. price whether traded via open outcry or electronically. Prior to the launch of side-by-side trading, CME had been offering electronic trading of foreign exchange products after hours from 2:30 p.m. to 7:05 a.m. on the GLOBEX2 system.
CME trades futures and options on futures on the Australian dollar, British pound, Brazilian real, Canadian dollar, Euro FX, French franc, Japanese yen, Mexican peso, New Zealand dollar, Russian ruble, South African rand and Swiss franc. Cross-rate contracts traded at CME are Euro FX/British pound, Euro FX/Japanese yen and Euro FX Swiss franc. CME Deutsche mark futures have traded exclusively electronically since August 1999. In addition, CME trades E-mini Euro FX and E-mini Japanese yen futures-smaller sized electronic versions of its Euro FX and yen futures contracts, introduced in October 1999.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (www.cme.com) is an international marketplace that brings together buyers and sellers on its trading floors and GLOBEX®2 around-the-clock electronic trading system. CME offers futures contracts and options on futures primarily in four product areas: interest rates, stock indexes, foreign exchange and commodities. The exchange moves about $1.5 billion per day in settlement payments and manages $28.4 billion in collateral deposits.
