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The contract will be available for trading on the NYMEX ClearPortsm trading platform from 7 PM Sundays through 2:30 PM Fridays, with a 45–minute break each day between 2:30 PM and 3:15 PM. Off–Exchange transactions can also be submitted solely for clearing through NYMEX ClearPortsm.
November 2004 will be the first listed month and the contract will be available for 72 consecutive months. It will be financially settled against the NYMEX Division natural gas futures contract settlement price on the next–to–last trading day of the spot month, which is also the expiration day of the floor–traded natural gas options contract.
Each contract will be for 2,500 million British thermal units with position accountability levels of 12,000 contracts for all months or any single month and 1,000 contracts for the expiring contract. The level at which clearing members must identify customers to the Exchange will be 100 contracts.
As part of the Exchange's liquidity provider program on NYMEX ClearPortsm, any trader who makes a bid or offer that is subsequently accepted will receive $0.25 per contract and the participant on the other side of the trade will pay an all–inclusive fee of $0.65 per contract.
Fees for a transaction submitted solely for clearing on NYMEX ClearPortsm will be $0.21 per side for Exchange members and $0.34 per contract per side for non–members.
The trading symbol is NP.
Exchange President James E. Newsome said, "This new contract will give market participants the opportunity to more closely hedge their exposure in the natural gas market. It is yet another example of how the Exchange is striving to provide the marketplace with enhanced tools to more precisely manage price risk through an expanding slate of more than 100 energy instruments that are available for trading or solely for clearing."
