September 29, 2011

The World's Most Liquid Benchmark: Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) Futures and Options

Open interest in WTI Crude Oil futures (CL), the world's most liquid crude oil benchmark, has grown 4 percent over the past year. Total volume reached 3.1 million contracts traded for the week ending Sep. 23, 2011. Daily volume over the past month averaged 642,787 contracts traded.

The WTI Crude Oil Options Complex attained open interest of 6,880,589 contracts while total volume reached 829,976 contracts traded for the week ending Sept. 23, 2011. Daily volume averaged 147,106 contracts over the past month.

To learn more about global benchmark Light Sweet Crude Oil (WTI) futures and options, please be sure to visit www.cmegroup.com/wti, where you will find a wealth of educational resources and up-to-the minute quote information.

Energy and Commodities OTC Clearing and Execution under
Dodd-Frank Regulation Roundtable

The "Energy and Commodities OTC Clearing and Execution under Dodd-Frank Regulation" roundtable, hosted by Energy Risk in association with CME Group, SuperDerivatives and KPMG, will be available on-demand soon and will be free to view. A reminder will be sent to all registrants as soon as the roundtable is made available.

Challenges continuously arise regarding energy and commodities OTC clearing, and changes in regulations. This roundtable offers the knowledge, experience and opinions of our elite speakers on some of the key issues the industry currently faces.

The industry expert speakers are:

• Thomas LaSala, Managing Director, Chief Regulatory Officer, CME Group
• Tim Doar, Managing Director, Risk Management, CME Group
• John D'Agostino, Advisor, former hedge fund manager and Nymex VP, KPMG
• Gregory Mocek, former CFTC enforcer for 8 years, CW&T
• Patrick J. McCarty, Managing Director, Government Relations and Regulatory Affairs in the United States, former General Counsel, CFTC, ICAP
• Zohar Hod, VP - Head of Americas & Global Strategic Sales, SuperDerivatives

Find out more about this roundtable here

Events: Advanced Energy Trading Simulation Courses

Looking for exposure to the latest electronic trading tools to navigate the oil, gas, or electricity trading infrastructure? The latest series of professional training courses, offered by global energy market thought leaders from Tulane University's A. B. Freeman School of Business, the Energy Management Institute, and CME Group, are the perfect opportunity for you to hone and test your skills using the most realistic trading simulations available.

Each two-day course covers everything from industry fundamentals to electronic trading while focusing on the trading strategies businesses use to manage risk and maximize returns. Instructors include professors from the Freeman School of Business, professionals with CME Group, and energy experts from EMI.

Reserve your seat here to get unparalleled training in energy trading.

UPCOMING COURSE DETAILS

Chicago:

Events: RTS Commodity Roundtable

Join CME Group at the RTS Commodity Roundtable: An Analysis and Outlook of the Global Commodity Markets, an event designed to provide the information on how to diversify your portfolio by adding exposure to international agriculture, energy and metals markets. Tim Andriesen, CME Group Managing Director of Agricultural Commodities, will be among the speakers at the RTS Commodity Roundtable as he and other distinguished panelists discuss opportunities in the international commodities markets and who and what are driving market growth.

Register today

DETAILS
Union League Club of Chicago
October 6, 2011
5pm - 8pm

Reception and networking to follow roundtable

The Commodities and Natural Resources Forum

Date: Tuesday, 08 November 2011
Time: 5:00 - 9:00 p.m. ET
Location: Newman Library at Baruch College, 151 East 25th Street, 7th floor, New York, NY 10010
Sponsoring Firm: MTA Educational Foundation

The 3rd Annual MTA Educational Foundation fundraising event features a prominent panel of experts discussing the outlook for important equity alternatives. The panelists participating in this year's Commodities and Natural Resources Forum are:

• James Bianco, President of Bianco Research
• Jeff deGraaf, Chairman of Renaissance Macro Research
• Joseph Foster, Portfolio Manager at Van Eck International Investors Gold Fund
• Dennis Gartman, Editor/Publisher of The Gartman Letter

The discussion will be moderated by Ron Insana. Proceeds from the fundraiser will be used to support the MTAEF-MTA Library at Baruch College and the creation and support of a technical analysis curriculum being taught for credit in colleges and universities around the world.

 More information
 Register online or make a donation

Events: School of Futures Comes to Europe

If you make your living on the business side of virtually any industry, you owe it to yourself to gain a firm grasp of futures and options fundamentals. The CME Group School of Futures, a comprehensive, four-day program created by CME Group experts, is the perfect opportunity for students of all ages to master the concepts, mechanics, history and strategies that define today's derivatives markets, from the basics of futures, options, and centralized clearing upward. Interactive discussions and hands-on trading sessions will deepen and solidify your command of these crucial financial tools in all of the various asset classes and product complexes, including Energy, Metals, Equity Indices, FX, Interest Rates, and Agriculture.

Space is limited. Enroll today.

DETAILS

London: Nov. 7-10, 2011
Registration Fee: £1,000

Access the Monthly Energy Update - Chart Book to view a global trading summary of energy markets, including product highlights, average daily volume, open interest, and historical volatility.

August Energy Trading Highlights

 For more information on Exchange energy products, please visit cmegroup.com/energy, or contact one of the following Exchange representatives:

Margin Erosion Opportunities for Energy Traders

If you trade financially settled energy contracts, your margin requirements decrease, or erode, as the contract month progresses. If the contracts you trade settle according to an average of daily prices during the settlement month, we ask for margin on only the remaining risk, as a service to you, so you can use that capital more efficiently in other ways. CME Group is the only exchange for energy trading and clearing that offers this feature. Visit CME Group's margins webpage to view full initial and eroded maintenance margins for individual contracts, and to learn more about this process.

Energy Unit Conversion Calculator Available on www.cmegroup.com

Need to know how to convert $/Barrel to $/mmBtu? Want to double-check a 3-2-1 crack spread calculation? Try our online Conversion Calculator, which features the most frequently used conversions for trading in crude oil, refined products, natural gas, coal, crack spreads, spark spreads, and more.

Professional Energy Market Commentary on www.cmegroup.com

Looking for energy market commentary, from the experts, updated throughout the day?

Be sure to check out the Energy Market Commentary, where you will find experienced perspectives to help you make smart energy trading decisions. Commentators include:

• Dominick Chirichella of the Energy Management Institute
• Stephen Schork of the Schork Report
• Dean Rogers and Cynthia Kase of Kase and Co.
• Experts from CME Group Energy

Daily commentaries provide a recap of each product's traded price activity, an analysis of the factors that influenced price activity, a recap of any reports released that day, and a pre-market look ahead at the next day's schedule.

Be sure to bookmark our market commentary section and take advantage of this convenient and comprehensive resource for a variety of asset classes - available at no cost!

 View Energy Market Commentary

Don't Miss a Minute of CME Group News!

Visit our Subscription Center and choose to receive the information you need most, including CME Globex updates, market data notices, product and partner subscriptions, advisories, newsletters and more. You choose, we deliver.

About CME Group

As the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, CME Group is where the world comes to manage risk. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes, including futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, weather and real estate. CME Group brings buyers and sellers together through the CME Globex electronic trading platform and trading facilities in New York and Chicago. CME Group also operates CME Clearing, one of the largest central counterparty clearing services in the world, which provides clearing and settlement services for exchange-traded contracts, as well as for over-the-counter derivatives transactions through CME ClearPort.

More information on CME Group Products:

Agriculture   |   Interest Rates   |   Energy   |   Equities   |   Metals   |   FX   |   Weather   |   CME ClearPort   |   Credit