CHICAGO, Jan. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CME, the world's largest and most diverse futures exchange, posted total 2005 annual volume of 1.05 billion contracts as it achieved double-digit volume gains for the sixth consecutive year. CME total average daily volume in 2005 was nearly 4.2 million contracts, up 34 percent from 2004.

Volume on the CME Globex electronic trading platform increased 62 percent for the year, with total volume of 730 million contracts and average daily volume of 2.9 million. CME Globex volume represented 70 percent of total CME volume, compared with 57 percent in 2004.

CME set annual volume records in all four product groups. Average daily volume in CME's interest rate products of 2.4 million contracts for the year climbed 40 percent from the all-time record volume levels achieved in 2004. This increase was driven by continued growth in CME Eurodollar options, up 45 percent to 746,000 contracts per day in 2005 from the same period a year ago, and electronic CME Eurodollar options, up 234 percent from 2004. CME Eurodollar futures grew 38 percent to 1.6 million contracts per day. Electronic CME Eurodollar futures averaged 1.3 million contracts per day in 2005, up 125 percent from the same period a year ago. CME Eurodollar futures remain the most actively traded futures contract in the world.

CME's foreign exchange complex saw year-on-year average daily volume increase 65 percent to more than 334,000 contracts per day in 2005. Combined average daily volume in CME's E-mini equity product complex was approximately 1.3 million contracts in 2005, up 21 percent compared with 2004. CME's equity standard volume grew 13 percent to 131,000 contracts per day. CME's commodities product complex experienced its third consecutive year of double- digit growth, and was up 23 percent compared to 2004.

In spite of the normal year-end slowdown, overall fourth quarter trading activity remained strong, with average daily volume above 4.1 million contracts, up 33 percent from the same period in 2004. Leading the growth was a 49 percent increase in foreign exchange (FX) trading, averaging a record 375,000 contracts per day. CME continues to see very strong participation in its FX business from high velocity algorithmic traders. In addition, CME interest rate volume had a 34 percent increase, averaging 2.2 million contracts per day. CME E-mini products averaged 1.3 million contracts per day, up 30 percent. And finally, CME commodity products increased by 20 percent with average daily volume of 51,000 contracts.

Average daily volume for December approached 3.8 million contracts, up 32 percent from year-ago levels. CME FX products had the highest volume month ever, with more than 428,000 contracts per day, up 37 percent compared with December 2004. Interest rate products grew 35 percent, E-mini products grew 27 percent, and commodity products grew 31 percent versus the same month a year ago. Overall electronic trading on the CME Globex platform was up 42 percent in December compared with year-ago levels.

Total open interest for all CME contracts at the end of 2005 was 31 million, up from 22 million contracts of open interest at the end of 2004. In addition, CME Clearing has 10 million in open interest positions for CBOT contracts cleared by CME.

The notional value -- or underlying dollar value -- of transactions on CME in 2005 represented $638 trillion, up 38 percent from $463 trillion in 2004.

All statistics in this news release exclude data on CME's non-traditional trakrs™ products unless otherwise noted.

  CME ANNUAL AVERAGE DAILY VOLUME (In Thousands)

                                     2005            2004     Percent Change
  CME PRODUCT LINE
  Interest Rates                    2,380           1,705           40%
  E-Minis                           1,264           1,048           21%
  Equity Standard                     131             115           13%
  Foreign Exchange                    334             202           65%
  Commodities                          50              40           23%
    Sub Total                       4,158           3,111           34%
  TRAKRS*                             168              72          135%
    Total                           4,327           3,183           36%

  VENUE
  Open Outcry                       1,214           1,282           -5%
  CME Globex (Ex TRAKRS)            2,896           1,786           62%
  Privately Negotiated                 49              44           10%

  *Includes launch of Rogers International Commodity Index TRAKRS on Nov. 3,
   2005, which traded more than 28 million contracts on that day.


  CME QUARTERLY AVERAGE DAILY VOLUME (In Thousands)

                                   Q4 2005         Q4 2004    Percent Change
  CME PRODUCT LINE
  Interest Rates                    2,209           1,654           34%
  E-Minis                           1,335           1,026           30%
  Equity Standard                     147             119           22%
  Foreign Exchange                    375             252           49%
  Commodities                          51              42           20%
    Sub Total                       4,117           3,093           33%
  TRAKRS*                             595              73          715%
    Total                           4,713           3,166           49%

  VENUE
  Open Outcry                       1,107             965           15%
  CME Globex (Ex TRAKRS)            2,961           2,082           42%
  Privately Negotiated                 49              46            6%

  *Includes launch of Rogers International Commodity Index TRAKRS on Nov. 3,
   2005, which traded more than 28 million contracts on that day.


  CME MONTHLY AVERAGE DAILY VOLUME (In Thousands)

                              December 2005   December 2004   Percent Change
  CME PRODUCT LINE
  Interest Rates                    1,896           1,401           35%
  E-Minis                           1,192             936           27%
  Equity Standard                     187             156           19%
  Foreign Exchange                    428             312           37%
  Commodities                          48              37           31%
    Sub Total                       3,751           2,842           32%
  TRAKRS                               92              94           -2%
    Total                           3,843           2,936           31%

  VENUE
  Open Outcry                       1,043             922           13%
  CME Globex (Ex TRAKRS)            2,648           1,868           42%
  Privately Negotiated                 60              52           15%



  CME RATE PER CONTRACT AND ADV THROUGH NOVEMBER 2005 (excluding TRAKRS)

  Average Rate Per Contract (In Dollars)
  Rolling Three-Month Average

                  By Product Line                          By Venue

                                                                      Priv-
   3-Month                                                            ately
   Period Interest         Equity  Foreign Commod-       Open   CME   Negot-
   Ending  Rates  E-Minis Standard Exchange ities Total Outcry Globex iated
   Nov-05  0.500   0.708   1.410    1.252   0.934 0.657 0.476  0.680  3.715
   Oct-05  0.506   0.705   1.412    1.323   0.939 0.662 0.479  0.688  3.684
   Sep-05  0.502   0.705   1.400    1.353   0.904 0.659 0.463  0.696  3.674


  Average Daily Volume (In Thousands)
  Rolling 3 Month Average

                  By Product Line                          By Venue

                                                                      Priv-
   3-Month                Equity                                      ately
   Period Interest        Stand- Foreign  Commod-        Open   CME   Negot-
   Ending  Rates  E-Minis  ard   Exchange  ities Total  Outcry Globex iated
   Nov-05  2,645   1,379   146      369     53   4,592  1,294  3,248   50
   Oct-05  2,599   1,352   137      340     48   4,436  1,267  3,120   49
   Sep-05  2,489   1,181   124      336     50   4,180  1,263  2,897   47
    *Corrected numbers for November

Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc. became the first publicly traded U.S. financial exchange on Dec. 6, 2002. The company was added to the Russell 1000® Index on July 1, 2003. It is the parent company of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. ( http://www.cme.com/ ), the world's largest and most diverse futures exchange. As an international marketplace, CME brings together buyers and sellers on its CME Globex electronic trading platform and on its trading floors. CME offers futures and options on futures primarily in interest rates, equities, foreign exchange and commodities. The exchange moved about $1.4 billion per day in settlement payments in the first three quarters of 2005 and managed $43.8 billion in collateral deposits at September 30, 2005, including $3.8 billion in deposits for non-CME products.

Statements in this news release that are not historical facts are forward- looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. More detailed information about factors that may affect our performance may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q, which can be obtained at its Web site at http://www.sec.gov/ . We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange, CME, the globe logo and CME Globex are registered trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. E-mini is a trademark of CME. CLEARING 21 is a registered trademark of CME and New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. S&P, S&P 500, NASDAQ-100, Nikkei 225, Russell 1000, Russell 2000, trakrs, Total Return Asset Contracts and other trade names, service marks, trademarks and registered trademarks that are not proprietary to Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. are the property of their respective owners, and are used herein under license. Further information about CME and its products is available on the CME Web site at http://www.cme.com/ .

CME-G

SOURCE: CME

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