WCE continues to provide facilities to trade futures and options contracts through an open, accessible vehicle where prices are discovered in a competitive and transparent manner, just as it has for over 100 years. However by transitioning to electronic trading WCE has brought its trading pit to the rest of the world and has attracted new participants and risk capital.
There are 58 companies registered as Participants with WCE in various categories; 24 are Futures Commission Merchants. Each of the Participants play an integral role in broadening the access to WCE’s contracts. Locals representing 75% of the pre-conversion local volume have also signed up as Participants. WCE expects to add more Participants in the months to come.
Winnipeg Commodity Exchange Inc. has instituted a Liquidity Provider Program for all WCE contracts. The program consists of rebates on exchange fees for Participants that provide short-term liquidity for WCE contracts at minimum volume levels. Proprietary traders, together with existing Locals, are vital to providing the daily volume required by hedgers and investors in the Exchange’s marketplace. To date, one company has registered as Market Maker/ Liquidity Provider. The Exchange has had on-going discussions with other potential Market Makers/Liquidity Providers.
The highest total daily volume recorded under the electronic trading platform to date is 17,254 contracts. This was recorded on February 22, 2005. Total open interest peaked on February 10, 2005 when there were 102,978 contracts outstanding. This was the highest level of total open interest recorded since April 13, 2004. The May 2005 canola futures contract set a new open interest record for a May canola futures contract on February 17, 2005 with 46,953 contracts outstanding. The previous record for a May contract set on March 23, 2001 when the open interest in the May 2001 canola contract reached 42,641 contracts.
