CHICAGO and NEW YORK, June 22, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CME Group (Nasdaq:CME), the world's largest and most diverse derivatives exchange, and The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (NASDAQ OMX) (Nasdaq:NDAQ), the world's largest exchange company, today marked the 10th anniversary of the listing of E-mini futures on the popular NASDAQ-100 Index(r).
Since the product launch in June 1999, more than 636 million E-mini NASDAQ-100 futures contracts have traded, making it one of the world's most successful equity index futures contracts. Today, more than 330,000 E-mini NASDAQ-100 Index futures contracts trade on average each day, which carries a notional value of $9 billion.
"Our partnership with NASDAQ OMX has benefitted our customers who have continued to embrace the E-mini NASDAQ contract because of its liquidity, transparency and relevance to their trading strategies," said Scot Warren, CME Group Managing Director of Equity Products. "With the trades backed by CME Clearing, which has served as the counterparty to every trade and so minimalized credit risk, the product has become even more attractive to customers."
"These products have enabled even more people to trade the NASDAQ-100 Index, opening up even more opportunities to gain exposure or hedge their portfolios' performance," said John Jacobs, Executive Vice President, NASDAQ OMX Global Index Group. "As the premier benchmark for non-financial stocks, the NASDAQ-100 Index continues to serve multiple investment needs."
The NASDAQ-100 Index includes the top 100 domestic and international non-financial securities based on market capitalization listed on The NASDAQ Stock Market(r). The E-mini NASDAQ-100 Index futures contracts reached a record trading volume day of 1.15 million contracts on September 18, 2008, with open interest hitting a record 641,440 contracts on June 13, 2007.
The E-mini NASDAQ-100 futures contract trades exclusively on the CME Globex(r) electronic trading platform almost 23 hours a day. Options on the E-mini NASDAQ-100 futures were added in 2004. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange has listed a full-size NASDAQ-100 contract since 1996.
About NASDAQ OMX
The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. is the world's largest exchange company. It delivers trading, exchange technology and public company services across six continents, with over 3,800 listed companies. NASDAQ OMX offers multiple capital raising solutions to companies around the globe, including its U.S. listings market, NASDAQ OMX Nordic, NASDAQ OMX Baltic, NASDAQ OMX First North, and the U.S. 144A sector. The company offers trading across multiple asset classes including equities, derivatives, debt, commodities, structured products and exchange-traded funds. NASDAQ OMX technology supports the operations of over 70 exchanges, clearing organizations and central securities depositories in more than 50 countries. NASDAQ OMX Nordic and NASDAQ OMX Baltic are not legal entities but describe the common offering from NASDAQ OMX exchanges in Helsinki, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Iceland, Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius. For more information about NASDAQ OMX, visit http://www.nasdaqomx.com.
About CME Group
CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) is the world's largest and most diverse derivatives exchange. Building on the heritage of CME, CBOT and NYMEX, CME Group serves the risk management needs of customers around the globe. As an international marketplace, CME Group brings buyers and sellers together on the CME Globex electronic trading platform and on trading floors in Chicago and New York. By acting as the buyer to every seller and the seller to every buyer, CME Clearing virtually eliminates counterparty credit risk. CME Clearing also offers financial safeguards to help mitigate systemic risk, providing the security and confidence market participants need to operate, invest and grow. CME Group offers the widest range of benchmark products available across all major asset classes, including futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, and alternative investment products such as weather and real estate. CME Group is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol "CME."
The Globe logo, CME, Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CME Group, Globex, E-mini and CME ClearPort are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. CBOT and Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago. NYMEX and New York Mercantile Exchange are trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Further information about CME Group and its products can be found at www.cmegroup.com.
About E-mini NASDAQ-100 futures contracts
NASDAQ(r), NASDAQ-100(r) and NASDAQ-100 Index(r) are registered trademarks of The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (collectively, with its affiliates, the "Corporations") and are licensed for use by Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. The E-mini NASDAQ-100 futures contracts have not been passed on by the Corporations as to their legality or suitability, and are not issued, endorsed, or sold by the Corporations. The Corporations make no warranties and bear no liability with respect to the E-mini NASDAQ-100 futures contracts.
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