What is the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME)?
Founded in 1898 as the Chicago Butter and Egg Board, the CME (or MERC) has now grown into the world’s largest commodity trader and futures clearinghouse . Each day an elite group gathers at the CMEs trading floor in downtown Chicago to swap futures in such products as cheese, butter, live cattle, pork bellies, timber, and fertilizer. Within seconds their trading activity is translated around the world, affecting the farm gate prices and grocery bills for billions of people. In 2002 the CME issued it sown stock options, and in 2007 bought out the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) with $8 billion in stock to form the CME Group. In 2008 the CME also bought out the rival New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) for $8.9 billion in cash and stock. In 2008 the CME reported revenues in excess of $2.5 billion, handling over a billion contracts worth over $1,000 trillion dollars. While some shouting by human traders still occurs at the Merc, over 70% of its activity now happens quietly behind the scene
This private not-for-profit corporation was founded in 1898, issued its own stock options in 2002, and is now the largest futures clearing house in the world. Each day an elite group gathers at the CMEs main office at 20 South Wacker Drive in downtown Chicago to swap futures in such products as cheese, butter, live cattle, pork bellies, timber, and fertilizer. Within seconds their trading activity is translated around the world, affecting the farm gate prices and grocery bills for billions of people. Beyond basic agricultural products, the CME directly influences the world economy in other major ways such as by setting benchmark financial indicators through its trading of futures in Eurodollars, the S&P 500 Index, as well as the NASDAQ Index. In 2004 alone the CME handled a staggering 212 million contracts worth over $127 trillion. CME Insider Trading Cloaked in Secrecy Because the CME is a private company, it is not subject to the same transparency and accountability rules governing o
