Overview
CME Group Inc., formerly Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc., is the world's largest futures and options exchange operator. The company offers futures and options on futures based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, and alternative investment products, such as weather and real estate.
In addition to the Chicago Merc, CME owns the Chicago Board of Trade and the New York Mercantile Exchange. The company recently received regulatory approval for a swaps clearinghouse. The credit-default-swaps platform is a joint venture with Citadel Investment Group LLC called CMDX. CME plans to launch so-called fear gauge volatility contracts in crude oil, corn, soybeans and gold under a license deal with the Chicago Board Options Exchange Inc.
Proprietary traders account for more than half of volume on its financial and agricultural commodity complex, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company is pushing to win clients such as sovereign-wealth funds. A fifth of volume comes from outside North American trading hours. The CME and other exchanges view renewed efforts by U.S. lawmakers to tighten oversight of energy and other commodity markets as a key risk, according to the Journal. On the marketing front, the CME has a large following on Twitter.