Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings reported that total volume for the first quarter averaged a record 3.9 million contracts per day, up 39 percent from the same period a year ago.
Total CME volume was above 240 million contracts for the quarter. Average daily volume on the CME Globex electronic trading platform was 2.6 million contracts, a 95 percent increase from first-quarter 2004 and a 26 percent increase from fourth-quarter 2004. During the quarter, CME Globex volume represented 66 percent of total exchange volume, compared with 67 percent in fourth-quarter 2004 and 48 percent in first-quarter 2004.
In March, CME average daily volume was a record 4.3 million contracts, up 40 percent from March 2004. This was CME’s third consecutive record volume month. Representing 65 percent of total exchange volume during March, trading on CME Globex averaged a record 2.8 million contracts per day, up 78 percent from March 2004. The percentage of CME Globex business was lower than in prior months due to strong CME Eurodollar options business, which currently trades primarily via open outcry.
On a rolling three-month basis, the average rate per contract through February was 67.3 cents, versus 70.3 cents for fourth-quarter 2004 (see CME Rate Per Contract table). Final first-quarter rate per contract information will be provided with the first-quarter earnings release.
“Successful execution of our growth strategy is driving CME’s record- breaking volume, with double-digit volume increases in all four product lines,” said CME Chairman Terry Duffy. “In addition to overseas expansion, we have seen substantial domestic growth, especially from members. This is being driven in part by the faster response time of our electronic trading platform, which averaged 60 milliseconds in February compared with more than 100 milliseconds in the fourth quarter.”
“Volume growth of our benchmark futures and options products has contributed to the significant expansion of our market share over the past few years,” said CME Chief Executive Officer Craig Donohue. “We are seeing a dramatic increase in the volume of pit-traded CME Eurodollar options, which was up 86 percent year over year to more than 830,000 contracts in March. We also have been breaking records with our electronic equity index options, which grew from under 1,000 contracts in March last year to 12,000 in March 2005. Going forward, we will continue to drive options volume by enhancing technology on our electronic trading platform for all our major product lines and expanding our distribution channels.”
Murdok | Breaking eBusiness News
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