January
The new year opened as 2004 had closed, with Trading Technologies (TT) dominating the headlines, in this case because Chicago Board of Trade (CBoT) and Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) had intervened in the ISV's patent infringement case against E-Speed. The two exchanges requested that documents pertaining to the case be taken off the restricted list and opened up to public viewing.
CBoT was also in the news as the exchange admitted that it would not hold a member vote on its long-anticipated demutualisation until after the board of directors' elections on 2 March. Across town, Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) announced that it too was contemplating demutualisation, although it stopped short of saying that it was targeting an IPO after moving to a for-profit structure.
One US options exchange that was heading towards IPO was International Securities Exchange (ISE), which priced its shares at $14-16. ISE and CBOE, the largest...