CME has reported average daily volume for April was 4.9 million contracts, up 47% from the same period a year ago and marking CME’s fourth consecutive record month.
Total monthly volume was more than 102 million contracts, exceeding 100 million for the first time. Average daily volume on the exchange’s CME(R) Globex(R) electronic trading platform rose to a record 3.4 million contracts, a 113% increase from April 2004. Electronic trading represented more than 70 percent of total CME volume in April, compared with 48% in the prior-year period and up from 65% in March.
CME total interest rate volume was a record 2.9 million contracts per day in April, up 51% from the same period a year ago. This increase was driven by electronic CME Eurodollar futures, which represented 81% of total CME Eurodollar futures volume in April, compared with 30% in April 2004. Electronic CME Eurodollar futures averaged 1.6 million contracts per day in April, up more than 300% from the same period a year ago and up 38% from March.
Trading in CME E-mini(TM) equity index products averaged 1.5 million contracts per day in April, up 35% percent compared with the same period last year. This was the highest monthly volume ever, beating the March 2005 record of 1.3 million.
Average daily volume of CME foreign exchange products was 307,000 contracts, representing notional value of $40 billion per day and a 94% increase compared with April 2004. During the month, electronic foreign exchange products increased 141% from the same period one year ago to reach 254,000 contracts per day.
During April, CME averaged a record 976,000 options on futures contracts per day. This was CME’s third consecutive record month in options. More than 43,000 options contracts per day were traded electronically in April – also a monthly record.
Open interest for all CME products at the end of April was above 31 million contracts, with an additional 8.5 million Total Return Asset Contracts(TM) (Trakrs). Additionally, the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) had approximately 13.6 million open positions at the CME Clearing House in April. Open interest represents the number of contract positions that are not closed out at the end of a trading session.