Also yesterday, CME's EuroFX futures contract set a new single-day electronic trading volume record of of 10,988, surpassing the previous record of 9,904 set on June 12. At the same time, electronically traded foreign exchange futures volume overall at CME reached a new monthly high of 304,665, with three additional days of trading left in the month. The new record surpasses the previous monthly volume record for electronically traded foreign exchange futures of 289,877 set in July.
August also marks the first month that electronic currency futures volume has surpassed 300,000 since the exchange's April introduction of "side-by-side" electronic and open outcry trading of CME currency and cross-rate futures contracts. Since then, electronically traded currency futures have set new monthly volume records in four of the past five months.
Coinciding with yesterday's surge in Euro FX volume, electronic foreign exchange futures trading marked its second busiest single day, with 24,698 contracts traded in all currencies, just shy of the record 25,314 contracts traded on Aug. 15.
CME's introduction of the side-by-side program-the first daytime electronic trading of the exchange's major currencies-came in response to customer requests as well as the increasing role electronic trading has played in currency trading globally. Information on side-by-side electronic currency trading, including new GLOBEX®2 ticker symbols and a Quote Vendor Symbol Guide, is available on the CME Web site at www.cme.com/market/currency/sxsresource.html located in the CME Currency Futures Side-by-Side Resource Center.
Additional open interest records set yesterday included Eurodollar options on futures, at 7,995,446 open positions, besting the record of 7,923,541 positions set on Aug. 24 and combined interest rate products, with 12,878,211 open positions beating the record 12,752,724 set on Aug. 24.
Open interest is the number of futures and options contracts outstanding at the close of trading each day. CME also has the largest futures and options on futures open interest of any exchange in the world, with 12.2 million contracts open as of June 30, 2001. Eurodollar options were launched in 1985. Also traded in the interest rate complex are contracts based on One-Month LIBOR, Euroyen and Treasury bills.
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. On Nov. 13, 2000, CME finalized its transformation into a for-profit, shareholder-owned corporation as it became the first U.S. financial exchange to demutualize by converting its membership interests into shares of common stock that can trade separately from exchange trading privileges. The exchange moves about $1.5 billion per day in settlement payments and manages $28.4 billion in collateral deposits.
