The Chicago Board of Trade’s (“CBOT®”) GDM program became effective on August 1, 2006.  The program provides transaction and clearing fee waivers for all electronically traded CBOT products up to 250,000 sides to registered participants.  This program is available to proprietary trading firms located in countries that have not historically been active in the CBOT markets.

Participation:  To participate each firm must complete Schedule A: GDM Firm Application Form and each individual trader must complete Schedule B: GDM Trader Application Form.  Both these forms are available to download at: www.cbot.com under Membership>Forms>Global Developing Markets Application Form.  Firms that are interested in applying for the GDM Program should contact the CBOT’s Business Development office in Chicago at 312-341-7955 or in London at +44-20-7929-0021.

Fee Waiver:  In order to obtain the fee waiver, clearing firms must enter accounts owned by their GDM customers into Dashboard, the Exchange’s fee billing system.  Furthermore, registered traders must obtain a CBOT-generated trader ID.  Each trade must have the appropriate trader ID attached to it for the fee waiver to apply.  Clearing firms may assist GDM firms to obtain the required CBOT-generated trader IDs.

Firms participating in the GDM program may lose a portion of the fee waiver if they fail to provide the clearing firm with the necessary information in a timely manner, the appropriate trader ID is not attached to trades, or the clearing firm delays entering the GDM information into Dashboard.  CBOT rules permit rebates on exchange and clearing fees for the two months prior to the month the information is reflected in the Dashboard system.  For additional information regarding registering the accounts in Dashboard or information regarding the process for obtaining the fee waiver, please contact Bruce Domash at 312-341-5989 or Marianne Byrne at 312-435-3486.