All tied up

A wave of consolidation has swept through global exchanges over the past few months, with the proposed merger of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade and the acquisition of Nybot by Intercontinental Exchange. What are the implications for the commodities market?

A major shake-up of the exchange-traded market is about to take place. Last month, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) unveiled an $8 billion merger to create the world's biggest futures exchange, valued at around $25 billion. That follows hot on the heels of Atlanta-based Intercontinental Exchange's (Ice) planned acquisition of the New York Board of Trade (Nybot) in September - a tie-up that will see Nybot's products traded on Ice's electronic trading