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The U.S. supervisory authority, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has approved trading in further Eurex products on the U.S. market with immediate effect. The approval comprises the futures on the European Dow Jones STOXX® 600 and Dow Jones STOXX® Mid 200 indices.
Over the last years, the Dow Jones STOXX 600 index has established as equivalent to the S&P 500 index as a benchmark for European equities. The increasing trading volume of derivatives on the Dow Jones STOXX Mid 200 index is a clear indicator for the large interest of European investors to trade a pan-European mid cap index.
U.S. participants can already trade in Eurex’s benchmark products, including futures on the Dow Jones EURO STOXX® 50 index and the DAX® index, as well as the Euro-Schatz, Euro-Bobl and Euro-Bund interest rate derivatives. The trading volume generated directly in the U.S. by CFTC-approved products currently amounts to around 15 percent of the respective Eurex overall volume.
Heike Eckert, who is responsible for Eurex’s activities in the U.S., said, “the U.S. market is one of our most important markets. The approval of further products will give our U.S. participants new trading and diversification opportunities.”
Eurex has been able to offer selected products on the US market since 1999. The CFTC’s “no-action letter” dated August 1999 allows Eurex to admit US participants and defines the range of products that can be traded in the U.S. At present, 67 companies with more than 1,350 authorized traders from the U.S. are connected to the Eurex network.
