CBOT Products Move to CME Globex this Month

By Kristina Zurla Landgraf ISSUE 701 | JAN 2008

As a trader, you probably haven't noticed many changes as a result of the merger of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade (now collectively CME Group Inc.) But recent integration between the two has resulted in new hours and procedures you might want to make note of if you trade these markets. This month, a number of CBOT products moved to the CME's Globex electronic platform, which resulted in some adjustments to trading hours. CME Group also launched a new Web site, www.cmegroup.com, which integrates the old CME.com and CBOT.com sites' information and contains new features and tools.

CBOT Dow Jones Industrial Average futures and agricultural products began trading on Globex on January 13, 2008, for the trade date of January 14, 2008. Electronic trading of agricultural futures and options has been moved up 30 minutes earlier, at 6:00 p.m. CT, and all products within a group open simultaneously, rather than on a staggered basis. There is no pre-open for options.

Also on January 13, electronically traded products at the Kansas City Board of Trade and Minneapolis Grain Exchange were listed on Globex.

On the trade date of January 28, 2008, electronic trading of CBOT interest rate products migrated to Globex. With this transition, electronic trading of these futures and options now opens 30 minutes earlier, at 5:30 p.m. Central Time. This includes: 30-Year Treasury bond futures, 10-year Treasury note futures, five-year and two-year Treasury note futures, 30-day Fed funds futures, 30-year, 10-year and five-year interest rate swap futures, mini-sized Eurodollar futures; and options on the 30-year, 10-year, five-year and two-year Treasury note, 30-day Fed funds options, 10-year and five-year interest rate swap options, and binary options on the target Fed funds rate. All products still close the regular day session at 4:00 p.m. CT.

More detailed hours for some key products follow.

E-mini Dow ($5) futures and options electronic hours

Monday – Thursday
3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. the following day
Shutdown period 4:30 – 5:00 p.m.

Sundays and Holidays
5:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m.

Last Trading Day
For quarterly futures and options, trading can occur up to 8:30 a.m. on expiration day. For serial options, trading can occur up to 3:15 p.m. on the third Friday of the contract month.

Dow ($10) futures and options open-outcry hours

Monday – Friday
8:30 a.m. – 3:15 p.m.

Last Trading Day
Trading can occur up to 3:15 p.m. on the Thursday prior to expiration day.

Dow ($10) futures and options electronic hours

Monday – Thursday
3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 8:15 a.m. the next day
Shutdown period 4:30 – 5:00 p.m.

Sundays and Holidays
5:00 p.m. to 8:15 a.m.

Last Trading Day
For quarterly futures and options, trading can occur up to 8:15 a.m. on expiration day.

CBOT Agricultural futures, electronic hours

Corn, soybean, soybean meal, soybean oil, wheat, rice, oat, ethanol, mini-sized corn, mini-sized soybean, mini-sized wheat:
Open: 6:00 p.m.
Close: 6:00 a.m.
Side-by-side open: 9:30 a.m.
Close: 1:15 p.m.

Agricultural options open at 6:00 p.m. and close at 6:00 a.m. the following day, with the exception of ethanol, which closes at 1:15 p.m. and has a temporary halt from 6:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.

Dow Jones AIG Commodity Index Excess Return Futures

Open 8:15 a.m.
Close 1:30 p.m.

Interest Rate Products to See Tick Size Change

CME Group also announced it intends to implement a number of enhancements to its interest rate products. Beginning March 3, 2008, the minimum tick size for three of the exchange's most actively traded interest rate contracts, the 30-Year U.S. Treasury Bond futures contract and both the five-Year U.S. Treasury Note futures and options on futures, will be reduced. Pending CFTC approval, CME will implement the following modification to the minimum tick size:

30-year U.S. Treasury bond futures from 1/32nd to 1/2 of 1/32nd (from $31.25 to $15.625)

Five-year U.S. Treasury note futures from 1/2 of 1/32nd to 1/4 of 1/32nd (from $15.625 to $7.8125)

Five-year U.S. Treasury note options from 1/64th to 1/2 of 1/64th from ($15.625 to $7.8125)

During the second quarter of this year, the CME Group and CBOT open-outcry venues will be consolidated into one location. CME's trading floors will migrate completely from 20 S. Wacker Drive to the CBOT building at 141 W. Jackson. For more information on these changes, go to www.cmegroup.com.

Kristina Zurla Landgraf is editor of Lind eWire. She can be reached by email at editor@lind-waldock.com.

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