CME to launch mini-sized Nasdaq composite futures
Reuters, 10.09.03, 7:27 PM ET
CHICAGO, Oct 9 (Reuters) - The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (nyse: CME - news - people), the largest U.S. futures exchange, will launch the first futures and options contracts based on the Nasdaq composite index, the firms said on Thursday.
Nasdaq composite derivatives will start trading on Oct. 27 on CME's Globex electronic trading platform, as part of the exchange's popular "E-mini" stock index futures lineup.
The contract will be sized at $20 times the Nasdaq composite index, or about $38,000 at current index levels.
CME's smaller-sized stock index products have become popular with individual investors, day traders and institutions attracted to their high liquidity.
At the same time, the exchanges said they are extending an existing agreement to offer Nasdaq-100 derivatives at the CME through 2011.
The CME currently trades Nasdaq-100 contracts on its open-outcry trading floor and on Globex. E-Mini Nasdaq-100 contracts trade electronically.
Nasdaq, the world's largest electronic stock market, has been busy rolling out products tied to its best-known index.
Earlier this month an exchange-traded fund was launched on the composite index. In September, Nasdaq licensed cash-settled options on the index to the Philadelphia Stock Exchange.
The Nasdaq composite index is a index of all common stocks on the Nasdaq stock exchange, weighted by capitalization. The Nasdaq-100 represents the 100 largest nonfinancial stocks traded on the exchange.
Copyright 2003, Reuters News Service |
