Eurex US says last week was its best-ever week since the launch of the exchange on 8 February. In the week beginning 1 July 12, a total of 206,778 US Treasury futures contracts were traded on Eurex US. Daily average volume traded on the exchange in July rose 700 percent to 23,922 contracts, up from 2,768 contracts in June. Open interest on Eurex US reached a new record of 48,470 contracts, up from 23,505 the previous Friday.
Eurex US introduced a new incentive program on Monday last week, designed to further increase trading in US Treasury futures on the exchange. “We are thrilled that our customers are responding so enthusiastically to the incentive program,” says Satish Nandapurkar, CEO of Eurex US. “In the past week we have seen the most active trading on Eurex US. Liquidity on the screen has been excellent as the markets are consistently tight and deep and open interest has doubled. We are also seeing increased diversity of the order book with all trader groups participating”.
The new incentive program has three major elements: a new revenue sharing initiative allowing firms to share in 40 percent of Eurex US’s 2005 revenues and 25 percent of 2006 revenues came into effect on 12 July. Another component of the program is a fee holiday for US Treasury futures for all market participants until the end of the year. Additionally, Eurex US has also introduced a new market maker program for European trading hours, connecting the European and US customer bases in US Treasury products.
Eurex US currently lists futures and options on 2-, 5- and 10-year Treasury notes and on 30-year Treasury bonds. With the introduction of the Global Clearing Link, Eurex US will expand its offering to include trading in futures and options on Euro-denominated interest rate and index products. These products will include the Bund future, the world’s most heavily traded futures contract, Bobl and Schatz futures, as well as products on the leading European indices DAX and DJ EURO STOXX 50.