OneChicago Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William J. Rainer said, "OneChicago is ready to offer futures on individual stocks and narrow-based indices. We look forward to the opening of this marketplace and the development of this new element of the nation's capital markets system."
OneChicago, a joint venture of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME) and the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), will offer futures contracts on 85 single stocks and 15 narrow-based indices, beginning with 20 of these products on the first day of trading. The Exchange will list the remaining contracts over the ensuing two weeks. All of OneChicago's products will be electronically traded through both CBOEdirect and GLOBEX platforms and can be carried in either securities accounts or futures accounts.
The new contracts will allow fund managers, individual investors, professional traders and others to manage their exposure to stocks. Security futures can be used independently or in conjunction with stocks, stock options or stock index futures to execute a variety of trading strategies for U.S. listed equities.
Before trading can begin, however, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) must approve OneChicago's customer margin rules. The SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission must also approve the language of the risk disclosure statement that all firms will be required to send to their customers to permit trading in security futures.
Transaction Fees
OneChicago today also announced its schedule of transaction fees. The fee includes all exchange and clearing fees as well as the mandatory Securities Exchange Act Section 31(d) fee on single stock futures. OneChicago said it intends to waive all of these transaction fees for the first 30 days of trading at the Exchange.
OneChicago's standard rate to trade single stock futures is 30 cents per contract per side, and the standard rate for narrow-based indices is 45 cents per contract per side. OneChicago also offers discounted rates for eligible members of the Exchange of 15 cents for single stock futures and 20 cents for narrow-based indices.
"The marketplace has asked us for a simple and competitive fee structure. I believe OneChicago has delivered on that request," Rainer said.
For additional information about OneChicago, further details of the fee structure and OneChicago products, access the OneChicago Web site at www.OneChicago.com.
