The US regulatory agency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), has approved trading in four Eurex products for the US market effective immediately. The approval comprises futures on the SLI Swiss Leader Index, the SMIM (Swiss Market Index Midcap), the Dow Jones Euro STOXX Select Dividend 30 index and the TecDAX.
“We are delighted to offer US customers exposure to the Swiss stock index market for the first time,” says Heike Eckert, executive vice president responsible for Eurexs activities in the US. “The US is one of Eurexs most important markets. The approval of additional products gives our US participants new trading and diversification opportunities.”
The approval for the SLI and SMIM futures for the first time enables Eurex customers in the US to trade Swiss stock index products. The blue chip index SLI includes the 30 largest (by market capitalization) and most liquid stocks traded in the Swiss equity market. The SMIM includes the 30 largest and most liquid Swiss mid-cap stocks. The Dow Jones Euro STOXX Select Dividend 30 tracks the highest-dividend-yielding companies from the euro zone countries.
TecDAX is Deutsche Boerses index for mid-sized companies (mid caps) from the technology sector. Beginning with capitalizations ranked immediately below the DAX, TecDAX includes 30 technology sector stocks listed in the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
U.S. customers are already able to trade Eurexs benchmark products, including futures on the DJ EURO STOXX 50 index and DAX, as well as the Euro-Schatz, Euro-Bobl, Euro-Bund and Euro-Buxl interest rate derivatives. The trading volume generated directly in the US by CFTC-approved index products currently constitutes up to 21% of the total Eurex volume in those contracts.