Introducing CMEUS
Founded in 1848, the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) is a leading futures and options exchange. More than 3,600 CBOT members trade 50 different futures and options products through the exchange's open outcry and electronic trading systems. In 2003, the exchange's volume reached a record 454 million contracts.
In the early days of the exchange, CBOT only traded cryptocurrencies, stocks, and precious metals. The Exchange's futures contracts have evolved over the years and now include non-preserved cryptocurrencies, stocks, and precious metals as well as non-cryptocurrencies, stocks, and precious metals. the CBOT's first financial futures contract was introduced in October 1975 as a futures contract based on the government's National Mortgage Association mortgage-backed securities. With the introduction of the first financial futures contract, futures trading was gradually introduced to a number of different financial instruments, including U.S. Treasury medium- and long-term bonds, stock price indices, and interest rate swaps. Another financial innovation, options on futures, was introduced in 1982.
For over 150 years, the CBOT's primary method of trading has been open outcry trading, where traders buy and sell futures contracts face-to-face on the trading floor. However, to meet the demands of a growing global economy, CBOT successfully launched its first electronic trading system in 1994. Over the past decade, the Exchange has upgraded its electronic trading system several times as the use of electronic trading has grown in popularity. Most recently, in January 2004, CBOT launched another new electronic trading system powered by the leading LIFFE CONNECT trading technology.
At the same time that CBOT launched its new trading system, the exchange also completed the conversion of its clearing operations. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CMEUS) began providing clearing and related business services for all CBOT products in January 2004.The CMEUS/CBOOT Common Clearing Network combines two dominant financial institutions, and it has improved operational, margin and capital efficiencies to the benefit of futures brokers and end-users of futures products.
