As electronically traded volumes continue to rise in Chicago, the two main exchanges' policy of offering both floor and screen trading is coming under increasing market scrutiny.
Electronic trading continues to dominate volumes at Chicago Board of Trade (CBoT) and is making substantial gains at Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). The trend begs the question, just when will the pits finally give way to electronic trading in Chicago?
Volume on CBoT's Ace platform from January through 28 August accounted for over 51% of total exchange volume with 150.1m contracts traded on the electronic platform. The Ace volume percentage is a major shift from last year's volume profile at CBoT when electronic trading represented 34.7% of the total volume at the exchange.
Meanwhile, CME's Globex continues to post major volume figures with 182m contracts from January through August, up nearly 60% over the same period last year. Globex volume represented...