Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME)'s proposed buyout of Chicago Board of Trade (CBoT) spurred a flurry of seat buying at record prices at the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) last week, which prompted increased speculation that the third Chicago exchange would be next in line to follow the consolidation trend.
CBOE said that ten seats had been sold between 16 October and 18 October, with the latest record price hitting $1.505m. That followed a record day when seven seats at the exchange were bought for prices ranging from $1.425m to $1.5m. Year-to-date, CBOE seat prices have risen 72% from the first sale of the year on 5 January for $875,000....