The record in E-mini Nasdaq 100 futures surpasses a record set Nov. 22, when 66,671 positions remained open after the close of trading. For standard-sized Nasdaq 100 futures, traded via open outcry from 8:30 a.m.-3:15 p.m. and electronically during other hours, the previous record was 47,649 positions on the previous day, Nov. 27.
Open interest is the number of contracts outstanding at the close of the trading day. High open interest in a product is an indication—in conjunction with its trading volume—of its “liquidity,” or pool of contracts that may be offset by trades at a later date.
Nasdaq 100 Index futures, sized at $100 times the index price, have traded on CME since 1996. E-mini Nasdaq 100 futures, launched in June 1999, are sized at $20 times the index. The smaller-sized contracts are traded electronically virtually around the clock on CME’s GLOBEX®2 trading system.