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Trading In Russell 1000 And Russell 2000 Index Futures Has Strong First Week On Eurex US - Nandapurkar: "Consistently Deep And Liquid Markets Result In Significant Market Share"

Date 16/02/2005

Significant market share resulting from market growth, tight price spreads and high quality market making was evident during the first week of trading in Russell 1000 and Russell 2000 index futures contracts on Eurex US. In launching these products on February 4, Eurex US further expanded its product portfolio and makes a new product class available to market participants around the world.

"We were very encouraged to see Eurex US account for 45 percent of electronic trading in Russell 1000 futures contracts and nearly 10 percent of combined volume for electronic trading in Russell 1000 and 2000 contracts during our first six trading days for those products," said Satish Nandapurkar, CEO of Eurex US.

"We are particularly pleased to have achieved this volume in markets that were offered price quotes that were equal, or better than, other markets more than 80 percent of the time during core trading hours. We have achieved this market share through the impressive overall growth of the markets," Nandapurkar added.

Overall electronic trading volume in Russell 1000 futures grew 178 percent in the six days following the launch when compared to the six days prior. A total of 37,906 Russell 2000 and 9,219 Russell 1000 futures contracts traded on Eurex US during the first six days of trading in the products.

As previously announced, Eurex US is waiving all trading fees for all market participants for the first three months of trading in the Russell products. Twenty-two firms are acting as market makers for the new products and are providing additional liquidity and increasing order book depth by continuously quoting prices and offering competitive spreads. Market makers will be active during the core U.S. trading hours (8:30 am to 3:00pm CST).

The large-cap Russell 1000 index measures the performance of the 1,000 largest U.S. companies based on total market capitalization. The Russell 2000 measures the performance of the 2000 companies following the Russell 1000 components and is the industry standard for U.S. small-cap companies.