CME introduces new forex contracts

The non-US dollar contract pairings are: euro FX/Australian dollar,euro FX/Canadian dollar, euro FX/Swedish krona, euro FX/Norwegian krone, Australian dollar/Canadian dollar, Australian dollar/New Zealand dollar, Australian dollar/Japanese yen, British pound/Swiss franc, British pound/Japanese yen, Canadian dollar/Japanese yen, Swiss franc/Japanese yen.

The US dollar contracts are: US dollar/Swedish krona, US dollar/Norwegian krone.

Dealers will trade the products on the CME’s Globex electronic platform as well as on the trading floor as all-or-none transactions with a five-lot minimum. The CME currently lists three euro-based cross-rates and 13 US dollar-based forex products.

“CME has seen increased foreign exchange volume executed both electronically and on our trading floor last year as a result of offering side-by-side electronic trading of our existing FX products line,” said CME chairman Scott Gordon.

CME’s most recent volume statistics showed a total of 120.5 million contracts traded in the first quarter of this year, worth an underlying value of $86.4 trillion. This is a 30% rise from the first quarter 2001, and marks the fifth consecutive quarterly record for trading volumes.