News Centre

CFTC Issues Order Prohibiting North American Derivatives Exchange’s Political Event Derivatives Contracts

Date 02/04/2012

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today issued an order pursuant to Section 5c(c)(5)(C)(ii) of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC Regulation 40.11(a)(1), prohibiting the North American Derivatives Exchange (Nadex) from listing or making available for clearing or trading a set of self-certified political event derivatives contracts. The contracts are binary option contracts that pay out based upon the results of various U.S federal elections to be held in 2012.

KCBT HRW Wheat Futures & Options Open Interest Increases Over Last Month

Date 02/04/2012

The Kansas City Board of Trade during the month of March saw open interest in the Hard Red Winter Wheat futures contract, the wheat options and the exchange as a whole increase over open interest at the end of February.

Federal Reserve Seeks Comment On Proposed Rulemaking To Establish Requirements For Determining Whether A Company Is Predominantly Engaged In Financial Activities

Date 02/04/2012

The Federal Reserve Board on Monday requested comment on a proposed amendment to the Board's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) issued February 11, 2011, to establish requirements for determining whether a company is "predominantly engaged in financial activities."

CFTC Charges Royal Bank Of Canada With Multi-Hundred Million Dollar Wash Sale Scheme - CFTC Also Charges That Bank Concealed Material Information From, And Made Material False Statements To, A Futures Exchange

Date 02/04/2012

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced the filing of a complaint in federal district court in New York charging the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), a Canadian bank and financial services firm doing business in New York, with conducting a multi-hundred million dollar wash sale scheme in connection with exchange-traded stock futures contracts. The CFTC’s complaint also alleges that RBC willfully concealed, and made false statements concerning, material aspects of its wash sale scheme from OneChicago, LLC (OneChicago), an electronic futures exchange, and CME Group, Inc. (CME Group), the entity that exercised the regulatory compliance function for OneChicago.

ICAP Expands Soft Commodities Team

Date 02/04/2012

ICAP Corporates LLC, the commodity futures and options trading arm of the world’s leading interdealer broker ICAP plc, announces the expansion of its soft commodities group to include a full-service cotton broking team. The three principals of VIP Commodities, Ltd., the leading global cotton options broker, have joined ICAP and will offer execution services in the open outcry pit, electronic, voiced blocks, and over-the-counter markets.

NYPC Names Sandy Broderick As Chief Executive Officer - Joins At A Time Of Growth And Great Opportunity For NYPC - Experienced Industry Professional With Over 20 Years In Global Derivatives Trading

Date 02/04/2012

New York Portfolio Clearing (NYPC) today announced the appointment of Alexander "Sandy" Broderick as Chief Executive Officer. His appointment comes at an important time for the company as volumes grow and it expands its portfolio of products through its "one-pot" model.

OneChicago Announces Trading Volumes For March 2012

Date 02/04/2012

• First quarter volume increased 49%, year-over-year, to more than 1.2 million contracts
• Blocks in March 2012 were up a strong 70% year-over-year, compared to March 2011

BOX Options Exchange Price Improvement Activity Increases In March

Date 02/04/2012

In the month of March, price improved contracts on BOX Options Exchange (“BOX”) averaged 310,495 per day, which represented a 12% increase over the same period last year.  Price improvement versus the prevailing NBBO for contracts submitted via BOX’s price improvement auction (“PIP”) averaged $145,529 per day, while total savings to investors this month were $3.2 MM.  With this, BOX has saved investors over $380 MM since its inception in 2004.  Overall average daily trading volume on BOX in the month of March was 636,391 contracts, which represented a 47% increase over the same period last year. 

OCC Announces Cleared Contract Volume Declined 10% In March While Securities Lending Volume Rose 18%

Date 02/04/2012

OCC announced that cleared contract volume reached 379,763,970 contracts in March, representing a 10 percent decrease from the March 2011 volume of 421,466,054 contracts. OCC ended the first quarter with total volume reaching 1,068,689,268 contracts, exceeding 1 billion contracts in the first quarter for the second time in history.

ISE Reports Business Activity For March 2012

Date 02/04/2012

• ISE was the second largest equity options exchange in March with market share of 18.3%, excluding dividend trades.
• Dividend trades made up 7.8% of industry volume in March 2012.