Ward Parkinson, founder of Micron Technology and member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Board of Directors, joined CME Chairman Scott Gordon, President and CEO Jim McNulty and Vice Chairman Terry Duffy to ring the opening bell marking the start of trading for E-mini lean hog futures.
"The E-mini lean hog contract is ideal for investors who would like to diversify their investment portfolios using Internet technology to incorporate agricultural commodities," said Duffy.
"This E-mini contract brings a wonderful combination of history, culture and technology to the agricultural marketplace," said Parkinson. The E-mini lean hog contracts are sized at 10,000 pounds, or one-quarter of the CME's standard-sized 40,000-pound contract. The E-mini version of the contracts will be "fungible" with the standard-sized contracts, allowing traders to offset E-mini lean hogs with an equivalent quantity of larger contracts at a ratio of 4:1.
The minimum price increment for E-mini lean hogs will be $0.10 per hundredweight, equal to $10 per contract, and the daily price limit will be $2.00 ($200 per contract) except on the last two days of trading when the limit will be $3.00. The E-mini lean hog contracts will be cash settled at the contract's expiration date to the CME Lean Hog IndexTM. The CME today began trading the October, December and February contract months and will add the April, June, July and August months next year.
The CME first pioneered its "E-mini" concept in September 1997 with the introduction of the E-mini S&P 500 futures and options contracts. The E-mini S&P 500 futures and E-mini Nasdaq100 futures contracts, introduced last summer, are the fastest growing products in the history of the exchange. The CME also trades several E-mini foreign currency products.
Normal trading hours are from 9:10 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. (Central Time), corresponding to trading hours of the standard sized lean hog contracts.
