Spirit of Innovation

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CME Group/Chicago HQ
Main Switchboard
Local: 312-930-1000
Toll Free: 866-716-7274

Customer Service
Product inquiries, website issues, and specific questions
Phone: 312-930-2316
Toll Free: 800-331-3332
E-mail: info@cmegroup.com

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Timeline of Achievements

We are responsible for serving you with key developments that have built today’s futures industry, including the birth of futures trading. These include the standardization of futures contracts, formation of the clearing process, and introduction of financial futures, cash-settlement and electronic trading. We have demonstrated ongoing leadership in developing creative products, breakthrough trading technology and a superior business model through a continuing series of firsts. Our collective legacy spans three centuries of unique contributions to the financial markets.

1800s

Creation of the world’s first futures exchange, based in Chicago, in 1848
The earliest “forward” contract ever recorded, in 1851, a concept that quickly gained popularity among merchants and processors
Development of standardized agreements called “futures” contracts, the world’s first such agreements, in 1865, which formalized grain trading
The world’s first futures clearing operation, in 1865, which required performance bonds, called “margin,” to be posted by buyers and sellers in its grain markets
Construction, in 1885, of Chicago’s tallest building and first commercial structure with electric lights, to accommodate the rapid growth of futures trading

1900s

The first futures contract on frozen, stored meats —frozen pork bellies – in 1961
The first agricultural futures based on non-storable commodities — live cattle – in 1964
The first financial futures contracts, with contracts on seven foreign currencies, in 1972
The first interest rate futures, in 1975, with contracts on the Government National Mortgage Association
The first energy futures, in 1978
The first cash-settled futures contract, Eurodollar futures, in 1981
The first successful stock index futures contract, S&P 500 Index futures, in 1982
The first options on futures contract, for U.S. Treasury Bond futures, also in 1982
Conceptualization and development of the first electronic trading platform for futures, the CME Globex platform, in 1987
The first mini-sized, all electronic futures contracts, E-mini S&P 500 futures, in 1997
The first weather-based futures contracts, in 1999

2000s

The first U.S. exchange to go public, in 2002
In partnership with Reuters, the creation of the first centrally cleared global FX platform for OTC market – FXMarketSpace – in 2006
CME and CBOT officially merge in 2007 to form CME Group Inc., world's largest and most diverse exchange
NYMEX becomes part of CME Group

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