E-Mini Nasdaq Futures Volume On CME Totals 2,136 On Opening Day

Trading volume in E-mini Nasdaq 100 Index® futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) totaled 2,136 contracts on its first day. "We are highly encouraged by opening day volume in E-mini Nasdaq 100 futures," CME Chairman Scott Gordon said. "We are confident that as customers become more and more familiar with the convenience and cost-effectiveness of this contract, volume will grow accordingly." E-mini Nasdaq 100 futures contracts trade electronically on the Merc's GLOBEX®2 system virtually 24 hours per day, from 3:45 p.m. until 3:15 p.m. the following day. The new product builds on the success of the Merc's popular E-mini S&P 500 futures, now the exchange's third most heavily traded futures contract. Sized at one-fifth the standard Nasdaq 100 contracts, the smaller contracts are "fungible" with the larger ones in that positions in the smaller contract may be offset by trading against an equivalent dollar-value of standard-size Nasdaq 100 futures and vice versa. The Merc has established an E-mini Nasdaq 100 Resource Center on its website, at http://www.cme.com/e-nasdaq/ including free real-time prices, links to a current list of component stocks and a variety of trading resources. Estimated volume in the standard-sized Nasdaq 100 futures contracts today totaled 8,992. Average daily volume in Nasdaq 100 futures has grown since its April 10, 1996, launch from 2,000 contracts to more than 12,000 contracts month-to-date.