Records set Monday included total CME FX futures and options on futures volume of 369,548, which eclipsed the previous record of 352,823 set in June. The record volume reflected strong, across-the-board activity in most of CME's 31 foreign currency products. The combined notional value of FX products traded Monday was over $39.1 billion. One product, New Zealand dollar futures, set a new volume record with 8,959 contracts traded.
Reflecting continued uncertainty about the future value of the dollar, new open interest records were set in a number of global currencies including the Japanese yen at 180,326 contracts, the British pound at 86,230 contracts, the Australian dollar at 73,803 contracts, the New Zealand dollar at 12,996 contracts, and the South African Rand at 8,602 contracts. Open interest is the number of contract positions that remain unsettled at the end of the trading day.
Total FX product volume at CME in the fourth quarter of 2003 is 48 percent higher versus year-ago levels, reflecting both growing volatility in global FX markets and the increasing popularity of currency futures and options trading on CME's GLOBEX® electronic trading platform, which provides access to trading in most currency products 23 hours a day.
"CME offers the world's largest regulated FX trading complex, providing users liquid, transparent markets with guaranteed execution and no counterparty risk, all of which are especially valuable in times of heightened foreign exchange volatility," said Richard Sears, CME managing director for foreign exchange.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (www.cme.com) is the largest futures exchange in the United States. As an international marketplace, CME brings together buyers and sellers on its trading floors and GLOBEX® electronic trading platform. CME offers futures and options on futures primarily in four product areas: interest rates, stock indexes, foreign exchange and commodities. The exchange moved about $1.4 billion per day in settlement payments in the first 11 months of 2003 and managed $34.1 billion in collateral deposits at Nov. 30, 2003. CME is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. (NYSE: CME), which is part of the Russell 1000® Index.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CME and GLOBEX are registered trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. Further information about CME and its products is available on the CME Web site at www.cme.com.
