A 'violation of fiduciary responsibility to maximize shareholder results' would only apply to keeping open underutilized, unwanted pits so that floor trader friends of management can maintain their business. My point being, the CME is a public corporation now. They can't get away with things that a private company or a membership association could get away with.
Are you talking about the ED? That's a $1M contract. I wouldn't call that small. The ES? Yeah, that's a small contract.
Right, notice the ED volume last week. Huge. Electronic traders going to take down size in volatile markets? Nope. Market making function provided in pits allows me to trade large numbers, no chance that can be done electronically unless you feel like selling down or bidding up to get filled. As for Eurex, you going to be able or willing to do your business with an overseas exchange filled with electronic traders scalping around. Nope.
The inside scoop from the CME is that they are concerned that having the SP trade on Globex would cannibalize high-fee ES volume. And they're probably right. My call is that the SP won't trade electronically until the CME is threatened from outside. If Eurex comes out with a US equity index future, that'll do it. Or the CBOT's Dow Futures are also doing increasingly well. Eventually the big SP will trade electronically, but for now the CME is maximizing shareholder value by not messing with the ES cash cow.
Foz, You're undoubtedly right. They couldn't care less what their customers want. Protecting the floor is also a big concern.