Eurex Expands Commodity Derivatives Offering By Introducing Derivatives On Two Commodity ETPs - Listing On 29 July 2011

The international derivatives exchange Eurex today announced that from 29 July 2011 it will be offering futures and options on two commodity ETPs (exchange traded products) launched by ETF Securities: "Physical Gold" and "Crude Oil". The Physical Gold ETP is one of the world’s largest with assets under management of over 4 billion euros. The new derivatives complement the ETF derivatives segment of Eurex Exchange where 3 futures and 21 options on ETFs are currently tradable. 

"The market for exchange-traded commodities (ETC) is growing continually, both in terms of the volume invested and the products available. In listing these derivatives, we are supporting the expansion of the ETC market in Europe by providing tailored hedging opportunities for investors and issuers," said Eurex Executive Board member Peter Reitz. 

Mark Weeks, Managing Director at ETF Securities, said: "The launch of Eurex's options and futures on two of our flagship products marks a milestone in the evolution of the commodity ETP industry, which our chairman pioneered less than 10 years ago. Eurex's products will complement our existing offering, allowing clients further opportunities to access the commodities markets. Client demand for such products has been significant so we expect Eurex to enjoy great success with these products." A recent report by ETF Securities on commodity ETPs for Q2 showed global assets under management for commodity ETPs at over 170 billion British pound – an increase by 33 percent in the last 12 months alone. "We see the addition of options and futures on ETF Securities‘ products as a natural progression of this development and fully support their launch," adds Mark Weeks. 

The most important product features of the new contracts are that the futures and options have a contract size of 100 units and are tradable from 9 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. CET. They are traded in US dollars and delivery is planned in physical certificates. The options are European options with terms of up to 60 months. Eurex offers order book trading, whereas bilaterally agreed transactions can be cleared via the OTC Trade Entry facilities for each product.