CME Introduces Options on Futures Trading on Handheld Devices New Trading Functionality on CME®Galax-C Handhelds Will Further Improve Electronic Liquidity of CME Options Markets CHICAGO, March 22, 2005 â CME, the largest futures exchange in the United States, announced the launch yesterday of new software for the CME Galax-C⢠handheld trading devices that enables trading of options on futures for any options contracts currently listed on CME Globex®, the exchangeâs electronic trading platform. CME Chairman Terry Duffy said, âOur ability to introduce this upgraded options trading functionality to our handhelds is an important step to increasing the electronic liquidity of options trading at CME. The handhelds have served as an important tool in merging the liquidity of electronic and open outcry markets, and have helped CMEâs floor traders better understand and leverage opportunities in the electronic marketplace.â âWe are focused on growing our electronic options markets,â said Craig Donohue, CME Chief Executive Officer. âDuring the past few months, we have introduced new market maker programs and announced a number of new options contracts, including equity options on CME E-Mini⢠Russell 2000® futures contracts and the launch of new CME Euro FX and Japanese yen options contracts that will enhance the liquidity of our electronic options markets and provide new options trading opportunities for CME customers.â Launched in 1999, CME Galax-C handheld devices currently are used in all four product areas at CME. Today, there are approximately 400 traders using the CME Galax-C devices on the trading floor averaging 120,000 contracts per day in February 2005, an increase from 31,000 per day in January 2004. In the CME Eurodollar futures market there are more than 200 handhelds in use, helping to grow electronic trading volume in CME Eurodollar futures from 300,000 in January 2004 to more than 1.8 million in February 2005. Current futures traders will not be required to change the way they trade using the devices, but will have the option to utilize some of the new functionality if desired. Some of the key changes with the new software include the following: - Ability to trade Options contracts. All options available on CME Globex will be available for trading. Users will have two order entry fields available for use at all times. - Ability to have two different views of the options contracts. Users can opt to view the strike price ranges in two separate columns; one for calls on the left and one for puts on the right. The user can scroll separately between the call and put strike prices. Users can opt to view one strike price field in the center with the calls on the left and the puts on the right of the strike price. In this view the scroll bar will move the strike price for the puts and calls simultaneously. - Ability to view and trade more than the current limit of 30 contracts. Users may request up to 1,000 futures contracts if desired. - Ability to toggle between futures and options trading screens. With just a couple of taps, users may view either the futures or options trading screen. Additionally, traders may practice options trading on the devices in a simulated environment using the handhelds in the CME Globex Learning Center (GLC). www.cme.com/about/press/cn/articles.html
CME to Launch Electronic European-Style Euro FX and Japanese Yen Options New FX Options Contracts to Commence Side-by-Side Trading in April CHICAGO, Feb. 1, 2005 â CME, the largest U.S. futures exchange and the largest regulated marketplace for foreign exchange (FX), today announced it will launch new Euro FX and Japanese yen options contracts, with European-style expiration, on its electronic CME® Globex® platform in April. CME already offers these contracts with American-style expiration via open outcry and during a limited CME Globex trading period. The new electronically traded FX options contracts, which will be available nearly 24 hours a day, will trade side by side with the open outcry markets. In similar fashion to its FX futures, CME will offer connectivity to a select group of automated market makers for these new options. The new, European-style options on these two futures contracts will be listed on Sunday, April 3, 2005, at 5:00 p.m. on CME Globex and in the open outcry market on Monday, April 4, 2005, at 7:20 a.m. âCME FX futures and options, which last year traded $6.2 trillion in notional value, are a rapidly growing part of the overall FX market,â said Rick Sears, Managing Director, CME Foreign Exchange. âLast year, our total FX volume grew more than 50 percent, and our electronic volume was up 128 percent from the prior year. Now for the first time, investors will be able to trade our futures and options off the same electronic platform nearly 24 hours a day. In addition, offering the choice of European-style expiration, as well as American-style expiration, allows our investors flexibility in determining investment strategies and also provides alternative tools that are more in line with the OTC market. These new FX options as well as other initiatives, such as our distribution partnership with Reuters that will allow traders to move seamlessly between the spot and futures markets, further increase the value of our risk management products.â CMEâs Euro FX and Japanese yen futures and options contracts are among the exchangeâs most actively traded FX contracts. Average daily volume in CME Euro futures and options was 86,757 in 2004 and 31,070 in CME Japanese yen futures and options. CME offers the largest regulated FX trading complex in the world, providing users with liquid, transparent markets, guaranteed execution and central counterparty clearing risk management on 36 individual FX futures and 21 options on futures products. CME received FX Weekâs 2004 eFX award for the best electronic futures platform. Last year, over 51 million FX contracts with a notional value of over $6.2 trillion traded at CME. www.cme.com/about/press/cn/articles.html
CME Equity Options Break Volume and Open Interest Records New CME® Globex® Volume Record Set With 3.85 Million Contracts Traded CHICAGO, March 17, 2005 â CME, the largest U.S. futures exchange, announced today that more than 100,000 equity options traded yesterday and as a result, the following volume records were set in the equity index product group: CME® S&P 500® options -- 70,180 contracts CME E-mini⢠S&P 500 options -- 27,010 contracts CME Russell 2000® options â 707 contracts CME also announced the following equity index product open interest records for Wednesday, March 16, 2005: CME S&P 500 options -- 835,438 positions CME E-mini Russell 2000 futures -- 257,391 positions CME E-mini S&P 500 options -- 202,051 positions CME Russell 2000 futures contracts -- 51,159 positions CME E-mini Russell 2000 options â- 5,046 positions CME Russell 2000 options -- 1,658 positions Open interest reflects the total number of contracts that have not yet been offset or fulfilled for delivery and provides an indication of future liquidity in that contract. A total of 3.85 million contracts traded on CME® Globex® excluding Total Return Asset ContractsSM (TRAKRS), breaking the previous electronic trading record of 3.8 million contracts set on March 10, 2005. www.cme.com/about/press/cn/articles.html
SuperDerivatives and CME join forces to provide transparency in exchange-traded FX options CHICAGO AND NEW YORK, April 4, 2005âSuperDerivatives®, whose SD-FX⢠option pricing system is widely regarded as the foreign exchange (FX) marketâs benchmark, and CME, the largest US futures exchange and the largest regulated marketplace for FX, today announced that real time market prices for CMEâs new European-style Euro FX and Japanese yen options contracts are now available on SuperDerivativesâ SD-FX platform. The prices were made available from the first day of the new contractsâ launch on Sunday, April 3, 2005, at 5:00 pm. Additionally, SuperDerivativesâ numerous users will be able to view indicative volatility levels for CMEâs FX options contracts. The large, liquid and sophisticated FX options market is currently concentrated in the OTC market. âAround 90 percent of the banks active in FX options use SD-FX,â said David Gershon, chief executive of SuperDerivatives. âThe venture between SuperDerivatives and CME will form a bridge that will help provide greater price transparency between the OTC and exchange-traded FX options markets,â he added. âCME is at the forefront of the emerging convergence of the OTC market and the exchange FX markets,â said Rick Sears, managing director, CME Foreign Exchange. âServices like SuperDerivatives and our just launched, CME FX on Reuters, will result in more dynamic and efficient FX markets. Our new Euro FX and Yen options offer market users European-style expiration, which mirrors the OTC market for options. With SuperDerivatives providing indicative options pricing in volatility terms, these new CME FX options products will be more accessible to a global base of users.â Sears added, âWe share SuperDerivativesâ commitment to market transparency, greater market liquidity and efficiency. We are pleased to have this opportunity to work with them and become part of this benchmark foreign exchange options pricing system.â SuperDerivatives will initially provide a new page on SD-FX displaying indicative volatility as generated by its benchmark pricing model, for CMEâs options on FX futures. This can be critical, as the real market price for even vanilla options can deviate substantially from the theoretical value produced by Black-Scholes type models. In the second phase, SuperDerivatives will add trading functionality to allow its customers to buy and sell CME FX options contracts through SD-FX. âExchange-traded FX options are quoted in a slightly different way from what is standard in the OTC market. To avoid confusion, end users need access to a system, such as SD-FX, which provides a real-time comparison between the two markets. SD-FX lets them quickly and easily find out where the best price or trading opportunity is,â explained Gershon. âThe new service SuperDerivatives is providing will appeal to many end users, but particularly the numerous banks, hedge funds and commodity trading advisers that are active in both the OTC and the exchange-traded markets,â added Gershon. John McAuliffe, Director, Foreign Exchange, Bank of Montreal/Harris Nesbitt, and a user of the system, said: âSD-FXâs enhanced capability will allow us to quickly and accurately assess CME market opportunities using the same pricing platform that we already use for OTC options.â âSD-FX converts real-time volatility prices into CME tick prices, which not only saves us time but also greatly enhances the transparency between the OTC and exchange-traded markets,â added McAuliffe. âUsing FX options is one of the most effective ways to manage currency exposure or to express a trading view. Currently, FX options trade predominantly in the OTC market. Although the market is now far more transparent than it was, in part thanks to SuperDerivatives, many more potential users are likely to use options if there is sufficient liquidity on a well-regulated exchange. Potentially, this is a very significant development,â concluded Gershon. CME offers the largest regulated FX trading complex in the world, providing users with liquid, transparent markets, guaranteed execution and central counterparty clearing risk management on 36 individual FX futures and 21 options on futures products. CME received FX Weekâs 2004 eFX award for the best electronic futures platform. Last year, over 51 million FX contracts with a notional value of over $6.2 trillion traded at CME. www.cme.com/about/press/cn/articles.html
CME GLOBEX European-Style Euro FX and Japanese Yen Options - EuroFX JUN05 FOP contracts IB Symbol: XTM5 (if viewed in symbol mode; XT = european style ) - Japanese Yen JUN05 FOP contracts IB Symbol: XJM5 (if viewed in symbol mode; XJ = european style )
No, waiting for lower exchange fees. CME wants to pocket something like $3 per rt. I wonder what will happen in Cctober 2005 when their 106R thing is going to expire.