ICE Futures U.S. Sets Second Daily Volume Record With Russell Mini Futures

ICE Futures U.S., a regulated U.S. futures exchange for global agricultural, equity index and currency markets, announced further milestones in the transition of Russell Index futures and options on futures to ICE. A daily volume record of 14,807 Russell Mini

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ICE Futures U.S., a regulated U.S. futures exchange for global agricultural, equity index and currency markets, announced further milestones in the transition of Russell Index futures and options on futures to ICE. A daily volume record of 14,807 Russell Mini Futures was set on Thursday, 12 June, representing the third volume record for the week.

In May, average daily volume (ADV) in the mini Russell 2000(R) Index futures contract increased 628% to 4,608 contracts over May of 2007. Open interest in the mini and full-size Russell 2000 futures increased from 1,377 contracts at 1 January 2008 to 86,227 contracts as of June 12, based on mini equivalents.

ICE Futures U.S. also announced that members of the International Securities Exchange (ISE) are eligible for the Exchange Member incentive program, which was opened to members of Chicago exchanges and of NYMEX in May. The program allows qualified members of these exchanges to trade at a fee of $0.30 per side in the mini sized contracts for the Russell 1000 and Russell 2000 futures and options on futures contracts. ICE currently has 20 futures and options market makers for the Russell contracts, and now lists the options on futures contracts for these products on both the New York trading floor and the ICE platform. Serial options are available in floor-based trading.

Free real-time market data for the mini Russell 2000 index futures contract is now available via the ICE homepage. Daily volume in the mini Russell 2000 futures contract is published on ICE’s homepage.

A comprehensive cross-margining agreement is also in place with the Options Clearing Corporation offering margin relief for offsetting Russell Index futures and other equity index options positions. As of 9 June ICE Clear U.S. member clearing firms are able to provide spread benefits for customers who have risk reducing positions in Russell products traded at ICE Futures U.S. and positions in Russell, Nasdaq, Dow Jones and S&P products listed for trading at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

ICE’s futures markets offer the fastest futures trading times with average roundtrip transaction times of 3 milliseconds. Russell Investments is the leading provider of U.S. indexes for investors, with over $4.4 trillion in investment assets benchmarked today.

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