E-mini S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 and E-mini Nasdaq 100 Futures Set Volume Records As Open Interest in Nasdaq 100 Rises to New High on CME

Trading in E-mini equity index products on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) surged Thursday to new records, along with standard-sized Nasdaq 100 futures. The new volume marks stood at 81,197 for E-mini S&P 500 futures, 35,176 for Nasdaq 100 futures, and 28,265 for E-mini Nasdaq 100 futures. Open interest in Nasdaq 100 futures also rose to a record 43,181 positions. For E-mini S&P 500 futures, the new record represented the first time volume has risen past 80,000, while for Nasdaq 100 futures the new mark surged 35 percent above the previous single-day volume record set last December. Volume in E-mini Nasdaq 100 futures for the first time totaled more than 25,000 contracts Thursday. The previous volume records in each product were: E-mini S&P 500, 79,731 set Feb. 15; Nasdaq 100, 26,056 set Dec. 10, 1999; and E-mini Nasdaq 100, 23,908 set Feb. 23. Open interest in the Nasdaq 100 Index futures has risen over a number of days, setting new highs. Open interest stood at a record 36,234, on Friday, Feb. 18, and rose to a new high of 38,733 on the next business day, Tuesday, Feb. 22. Open interest is the number of positions held overnight after the close of trading. Nasdaq 100 Index futures began trading on the CME in April 1996. Each contract is sized at $100 time the index value. E-mini Nasdaq 100 futures, sized at $20 times the index, began trading in June 1999. E-mini S&P 500 futures, the first "electronic-mini" product offered on the exchange, were launched in September 1997 and rapidly built on the success of the CME's benchmark S&P 500 futures contract traded since 1982. E-mini S&P 500 futures are the CME's third most actively traded futures contracts. The E-mini index products trade on the CME's GLOBEX®2 electronic trading system from 3:45 p.m. (Central Time, and 5:30 p.m. on Sundays) to 3:15 p.m. the following business day. Nasdaq 100 futures trade via open outcry from 8:30 a.m. until 3:15 p.m., moving to electronic trading on the GLOBEX2 system overnight from 3:45 p.m. until 8:15 a.m. the following day.