Beginning April 8, electronic and floor trading hours for CBOT Corn, Soybeans, Wheat, Soybean Meal, Soybean Oil, Rough Rice, Oats, and KCBT Wheat futures and options, plus all related CBOT and KCBT calendar spread options and inter-commodity spread options, will be amended as follows: *Sunday to Friday, electronic trading from 7:00 p.m. to 7:45 a.m. CT *Monday to Friday, break in electronic trading from 7:45 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. CT *Monday to Friday, floor and CME Globex trading from 8:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. CT Daily settlements for CME Globex and floor trading of these products will be based on market activity at or around 1:15 p.m. CT each day. Mini-Sized Corn, Mini-Sized Soybeans and Mini-Sized Wheat will continue to trade on CME Globex and on the floor until 1:45 p.m. CT. http://cmegroup.mediaroom.com/2013-...nse-to-Customer-Outreach?pagetemplate=article
I think 2.75 hours of the cut is a very good idea. A 2P CT close and a 5P open never made much sense because the former is too late for Europe and the latter is too early for Asia. Also, as a position trader, when I'M ON A BOAT! on a sunny Sunday afternoon, I don't want to have to start checking my phone at 5P. I'm indifferent to the 45 min gap in the morning and the one hour earlier open for the floor session. However, given the frequency of changes in the last year or so, I imagine the CME will be open to adjusting those two items if competitive conditions (ICE) or their customers dictate.
1) All of the daily grain trading business can be done in one hour. The extra hours are a waste. 2) That's why the pit hours are so "narrow" to begin with. :eek: 3) The extension of the trading hours makes trading worse by spreading out the trading instead of concentrating it.