KCBT® Chairman Scott P. Smith described 2004 as a successful year marked by records, growth and evolution for the Kansas City Board of Trade. Smith noted that this is the seventh year in a row the exchange has paid a dividend, making it unique among U.S. exchanges. A new volume record was set for the KCBT hard red winter wheat futures contract, with a total of 2,883,370 contracts being traded. That figure broke the previous annual record of 2,738,536 contracts, set in 2002, by 94,834 contracts.
Total exchange volume for 2004 amounted to 3,089,804 contracts, the third largest in exchange history. The record of 3,326,836 contracts was set in 2002. Volume for 2004 was off only 10,701 contracts from the second best year, which was 2003.
Smith also noted that exchange seat prices set an all time high on November 8 at $129,000. Prior to 2004, the highest price paid for a seat was $95,000, in August 2003. The average seat price for the year was $112,667, up from $78,500 in 2003, and well above the previous record price.
In July, the KCBT announced that the Kansas City Board of Trade Clearing Corporation (KCBTCC) would begin providing clearing processing services to WCE Clearing Corporation (WCECC) when the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange (WCE) converted to electronic trading on December 20. The KCBTCC now provides processing services and WCECC continues to guarantee WCE trades. The KCBTCC is a wholly owned subsidiary of the KCBT and was founded in 1913.
In August, the KCBT announced an agreement with the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT®) to host the KCBT futures and options contracts on its e-cbot® electronic trading platform powered by LIFFE CONNECT®. On December 12, the KCBT began trading the Value Line® stock index futures and options contracts exclusively on the electronic trading platform. Also at that time, after hours trading became available for hard red winter wheat futures and options contracts in addition to the regular day sessions, which will continue to trade by open outcry.
The KCBT is a for-profit corporation organized under the laws of Delaware. The exchange, chartered in 1876, is the world’s largest futures market for hard red winter wheat.
