CBOT volumes rise as shift to electronic trading continues

Volumes on the Chicago Board of Trade continued to rise in November, as trading on the exchange shifted steadily from open-auction to electronic means.

Average daily volumes for November were up 22% at 2,877,583 contracts per day from October, but only up 1.6% year-on-year compared with high volumes in November 2004. For the year to date, volumes are up 14% at 2,740,837 contracts per day compared with the same period in 2004.

The largest share of the trading, by number of contracts exchanged per day, remained financial futures, which represented 2,189,487 trades per day, or 76% of total volumes: the most popular financial future was on the ten-year US Treasury note, with an average of 201,241 contracts per day in November.

Electronic trading continued to grow as a share of the total volume, reaching 1,963,672 contracts per day in November - 68% of total volume, and 10.8% more than in November last year, when electronic trading represented only 62% of total volume.