It’s obviously a sensitive time for the CME, which is engaged in a battle to take over its cross-town rival, the Chicago Board of Trade, with upstart exchange the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE). The CME is viewed as a high-growth stock and it has delivered ever since it was listed on December 6, 2002. Its shares made their debut at $35.00 and since then they have pretty much gone one way: up. Although off their highs, they are still trading at around $540.00.
The way the CME has managed to grow its FX business is very much part of its high-growth story. From being an FX also-ran, the CME is now without doubt a major player in the market. It is now probably the second largest multi-bank platform in FX.
In June, the CME’s turnover in futures and options reached new levels. Daily business averaged 667,689 contracts, a 41% increase on June 2006. In notional terms, this was the equivalent to a daily turnover of $80 billion. June’s figures were boosted by the IMM role, but the figures for the quarter are impressive in their own right. The average daily volume for the period was a notional $64.5