CME Group operates a global derivatives marketplace, offering a wide range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes, including options and futures based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, weather and real estate.
The global exchange group is comprised of five Designated Contract Markets (DCMs): CME, CBOT, NYMEX, COMEX and KCBT, which facilitate trading in exchange-listed and over-the-counter (OTC) products.
CME Globex®, CME's electronic trading platform launched in 1992, was the first global electronic trading system for futures and options. The platform was developed to complement the exchange’s traditional open outcry system, enhance trading efficiency and extend trading hours.
CME Globex offers global access to an array of global benchmark futures and options products, including CME's flagship Eurodollar and E-mini S&P 500 contracts.
Trading is conducted on an open access marketplace, facilitating direct participation from customers around the globe. Products on Globex may be electronic-only or trade side-by-side, meaning contracts are available electronically and via open outcry at CME's trading facilities for part of the day. After-hours electronic trading begins following the close of open outcry trading.
Electronic trading on Globex extends from Sunday evening through Friday afternoon. Each trading day begins with the afternoon session opening, but session hours vary by product and demand.
CME Group also operates CME Clearing, a central counterparty clearing provider, which offers clearing and settlement services across asset classes for exchange-traded contracts and over-the-counter derivatives transactions. CME Clearing is the largest derivatives clearing house in the world, guaranteeing all contracts traded on the CME Globex platform.
The history of floor-based trading at CME dates back to 1898 with the founding of the Chicago Butter and Egg Board. It wasn’t until 1919 that the company changed its name to the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. CME was the first U.S. financial exchange to demutualize into a shareholder-owned corporation, and has been a publicly traded company since 2002.
CME Group was formed out of the 2007 merger of CME with the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). The following year, CME Group acquired the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), including the COMEX division, in August of 2008.
