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Chicago Mercantile Exchange
www.cme.com
Background
The Chicago Butter and Egg Board was founded in 1898 and evolved into Chicago Mercantile Exchange (now CME) in 1919. At that time, futures trading was conducted only for agricultural products, such as butter and eggs. Since that time, CME has pioneered a number of innovative products, services and systems to accommodate futures trading. These include:
- 1961: A frozen pork belly futures contract — the first futures contract based on frozen, stored meats. Pork bellies are used in bacon production.
- 1964: A live cattle futures contract, the first futures contract to be based on a non-storable commodity.
- 1972: The world's first financial futures with futures contracts on seven foreign currencies.
- 1981: CME® Eurodollar futures, the first contracts to be settled in cash, rather than physically delivered. They became the world's most actively traded futures contract in 2002.
- 1982: The first successful equity contract, the CME S&P 500® Index futures contract.
- 1984: The first international link between futures exchanges — a mutual offset trading link between CME and the Singapore Exchange Derivatives Trading Ltd. (SGX).
- 1992: CME Globex®, the first global electronic futures trading platform. The platform originally provided after-hours trading. Today, it offers trading approximately 23 hours a day, five days a week.
- 1997: CME E-mini® S&P 500 contracts — electronically traded products that are one-fifth the size of the standard S&P 500 Index futures — paving the way for additional E-mini products. The E-mini S&P 500 futures and the E-mini NASDAQ-100® futures contracts are among the fastest-growing contracts in CME's history.
- 2000: The first demutualization of a U.S. financial exchange, achieved by converting its membership interests into shares of common stock that can trade separately from exchange trading privileges.
- 2001: The formation of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc., the parent of CME, created to provide additional business and strategic flexibility. CME also became the largest futures exchange in the United States.
- 2002: CME Holdings stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, making CME the first publicly traded U.S. financial exchange.
- 2003: CME and the Chicago Board of Trade® (CBOT®) implement a common clearing link, under which CME provides clearing (back-office processing) and related services for all CBOT-traded contracts.
CME created the world’s first financial futures contracts by introducing futures trading on seven foreign currencies in May 1972. The original currency contracts included CME® British pounds, CME Canadian dollars, CME Deutsche marks, CME French francs, CME Japanese yen, CME Mexican pesos and CME Swiss francs. . Today, CME’s currency market is the world’s largest regulated marketplace for foreign exchange (FX) trading. In 2004, a record 51 million FX contracts were traded at CME, up 50 percent from the prior year. CME has helped popularize online futures trading, with 66 percent of the trades conducted last year being done so electronically on the CME Globex® platform. Since launching the original CME FX futures contracts, CME has become the largest financial derivatives exchange in the United States and most diversified in the world. CME has introduced a number of innovative products - including CME Eurodollar futures, the world’s most actively traded interest rate futures contract, and CME E-mini® Equity products - that serve as benchmarks for market users worldwide.
CME Commodities |
||
Product |
Futures |
Options |
CME Class III Milk |
01/11/96 |
01/11/96 |
CME Class IV Milk |
07/10/00 |
07/10/00 |
CME Feeder Cattle |
11/30/71 |
01/09/87 |
CME DAP |
06/06/04 |
06/06/04 |
CME UAN |
06/06/04 |
06/06/04 |
CME Urea |
06/06/04 |
06/06/04 |
CME Frozen Pork Bellies |
09/18/61 |
10/03/86 |
CME Lean Hogs |
11/10/95 |
11/13/95 |
CME Live Cattle |
11/30/64 |
10/30/84 |
CME Random Length Lumber |
10/01/69 |
05/29/87 |
CME Cash Markets |
||
Product |
Futures |
Options |
CME Butter |
1898 |
n/a |
CME Cheese |
05/01/97 |
n/a |
CME Nonfat Dry Milk |
09/01/98 |
n/a |
CME Foreign Exchange |
||
Product |
Futures |
Options |
CME Australian Dollar |
01/13/87 |
01/11/88 |
CME Australian Dollar Cross Rates: |
05/16/02 |
n/a |
CME Brazilian Real |
11/08/95 |
11/08/95 |
CME British Pound |
05/16/72 |
02/25/85 |
CME British Pound Cross Rates: |
05/16/02 |
n/a |
CME Canadian Dollar |
05/16/72 |
06/18/86 |
CME Canadian Dollar Cross Rates: |
05/16/02 |
n/a |
CME$INDEX® |
03/03/03 |
03/03/03 |
CME Czech Koruna |
07/11/04 |
07/11/04 |
CME E-mini® Euro FX |
10/07/99 |
n/a |
CME E-mini Japanese Yen |
10/07/99 |
n/a |
CME Euro FX |
01/04/99 |
01/04/99 |
CME Euro FX Cross Rates: |
01/12/99 |
01/12/99 |
Australian Dollar, Canadian Dollar, Norwegian Krone, Swedish Krona |
05/16/02 |
n/a |
CME Hungarian Forint |
07/11/04 |
07/11/04 |
CME Japanese Yen |
05/16/72 |
03/05/86 |
CME Mexican Peso |
04/25/95 |
04/25/95 |
CME New Zealand Dollar |
05/07/97 |
05/07/97 |
CME Polish Zloty |
07/11/04 |
07/11/04 |
CME Russian Ruble |
04/21/98 |
04/21/98 |
CME South African Rand |
05/07/97 |
05/07/97 |
CME Swiss Franc |
05/16/72 |
02/25/85 |
CME Swiss Franc Cross Rates: |
05/16/02 |
n/a |
CME U.S. Dollar Cross Rates: |
05/16/02 |
n/a |
CME Equities |
||
Product |
Futures |
Options |
CME E-mini NASDAQ-100® |
06/21/99 |
n/a |
CME E-mini Russell 2000® |
10/24/01 |
n/a |
CME E-mini S&P 500® |
09/09/97 |
09/09/97 |
CME E-mini S&P MidCap 400® |
01/28/02 |
n/a |
CME Financial SPCTR® |
09/23/02 |
n/a |
GSCI® |
07/28/92 |
07/28/92 |
LMC TRAKRS® |
12/10/02 |
n/a |
Long-Short Technology TRAKRS |
07/31/02 |
n/a |
CME NASDAQ-100 |
04/10/96 |
04/10/96 |
CME Nikkei(TM) 225 |
09/25/90 |
09/25/90 |
CME Russell 1000® |
04/28/03 |
n/a |
CME Russell 2000 |
02/04/93 |
02/04/93 |
CME S&P 500 |
04/21/82 |
01/23/83 |
CME S&P 500 / Citigroup Growth |
11/06/95 |
11/06/95 |
CME S&P 500 / Citigroup Value |
11/06/95 |
11/06/95 |
CME S&P MidCap 400 |
02/13/92 |
02/13/92 |
CME S&P SmallCap 600® |
11/11/02 |
n/a |
Select 50 TRAKRS |
10/31/02 |
n/a |
Commodity TRAKRS |
07/01/02 |
n/a |
Technology SPCTR |
09/23/02 |
n/a |
CME Interest Rates |
||
Product |
Futures |
Options |
CME 13-Week Treasury Bill |
01/06/76 |
04/10/86 |
CME 91-Day CETES/28-Day TIEE |
04/28/03 |
n/a |
CME Agency Notes (5-Year) |
03/14/00 |
n/a |
CME Agency Notes (10-Year) |
03/14/00 |
n/a |
CME Eurodollar (3-Month) |
09/09/81 |
03/20/85 |
CME Euroyen LIBOR |
04/01/99 |
n/a |
CME Euroyen TIBOR |
03/06/96 |
n/a |
CME One-Month LIBOR |
04/05/90 |
06/12/91 |
CME Swap (2-Year) |
04/08/02 |
n/a |
CME Swap (5-Year) |
04/08/02 |
n/a |
CME Swap (10-Year) |
04/08/02 |
n/a |
CME Turn Rate |
05/19/98 |
n/a |
CME Weather |
||
Product |
Futures |
Options |
CME Monthly Cooling Degree Day Index |
01/30/00 |
01/30/00 |
CME Monthly Heating Degree Day Index |
09/22/99 |
09/22/99 |
CME Seasonal Heating Degree Day Index |
05/26/03 |
05/26/03 |
CME Seasonal Cooling Degree Day Index |
05/26/03 |
05/26/03 |