The Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. reports that 2005 will be a record year, with trading volume exceeding 1 billion contracts for the first time ever.

The CME announced today that on December 9 it surpassed one billion contracts, excluding non-traditional futures contracts, traded in a single year for the first time in the 107-year history of the exchange.

Year to date, CME has traded 1 billion contracts, an increase of more than 32% from this time last year. So far in 2005, 70% of all contracts traded at the CME have been executed on the CME Globex electronic trading platform and year-to-date average daily volume is 4.2 million.

“CME is the global leader for trading futures and options on futures,” said the firm’s chairman Terrence Duffy. “We are pleased to provide our customers with the deep pools of liquidity that they require to implement their risk management strategies, and we greatly appreciate the business they bring to our exchange.”

“CME’s ability to expand internationally through the implementation of new technologies and the increased distribution of our benchmark products have contributed to the significant growth of our volume,” said CME chief executive officer Craig Donohue. “The continued increases in electronic trading and the addition of several new product offerings that support our customers’ needs have allowed us to achieve yet another milestone in our history.”

CME Clearing officially surpassed one billion trades cleared on August 5. This is the second consecutive year the CME Clearing House, which clears all trading volume for the Chicago Board of Trade in addition to the CME, surpassed one billion cleared trades.

http://www.cme.com