March 9, 2006

Welcome to the CME Globex Notices summary for the week of March 9, 2006.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your CME Globex Account Manager at 312.634.8700; or at +44.207.623.2550 in Europe.

Reminder: CME GSCI ER Futures Launch 
Effective this Sunday, March 12, 2006 (for trade date March 13), CME is launching CME Goldman Sachs Commodity Index Excess Return Index (GSCI^® ER) futures contracts on the CME Globex electronic trading platform.

CME GSCI ER futures are currently available for testing in the CME certification environment.

More information on the CME GSCI ER futures launch is available online.

Quantity Cap Increase on CME Foreign Exchange Products 
Effective this Sunday, March 12, 2006 (for trade date Monday, March 13), the order entry quantity cap for CME E-mini Euro FX and CME E-mini Japanese Yen futures contracts will be increased to 50 contracts. The quantity cap for these two products is currently set at 30 contracts each.

More information on this quantity cap increase is available online.

CME Brazilian Real Futures Calendar Spread Listing Convention Change 
This Sunday, March 12, 2006 (for trade date Monday, March 13), the convention for listing CME Brazilian Real futures Calendar spreads on the CME Globex platform will change. Currently, CME Brazilian Real Calendar spreads are listed with the lead contract month in the first position and the deferred contract month in the second position. Effective with this change, the Calendar spreads will be listed with the deferred contract month in the first position and the lead contract month in the second position.

More information on this listing convention change is available online.

CME Cash-Settled Butter Calendar Spreads 
Effective Monday, March 20, 2006, in response to customer requests, CME is launching implied spread functionality for CME Cash-Settled Butter Calendar spreads. CME is also launching 63 new CME Cash-Settled Butter Calendar spreads with implied spread functionality, in addition to the three Calendar spreads currently available.

The implied spread functionality will be available for testing in the CME certification environment on the three existing Calendar spreads on Sunday, March 12, 2006.

More information on the CME Cash-Settled Butter Calendar Spreads, and a complete list of available spreads, is available online.

Reminder: CME Market Data Change 
CME currently disseminates both the Five Best Bids/Offers (MA) message and the Delete N Lines (MC) and Market Sheet (MF) messages for certain CME futures and options on futures, providing both full-depth and five-deep market data. Effective Sunday, March 19, 2006 (for trade date March 20), to reduce bandwidth utilization, CME is eliminating the MC and MF market data messages for all CME products except:

• CME Russell 2000^® futures
• CME NASDAQ-100^® futures
• CME S&P 500^® futures
• CME S&P MidCap 400^® futures

These products, without the MC and MF messages, are currently available for testing in the CME certification environment. This change should have no impact on most customer systems; however, customers are encouraged to verify that their systems do not rely on the MC and MF messages.

More information on this CME market data change is available online.

Reminder: CME E-mini MSCI EAFE Futures Launch 
Effective Sunday, March 19, 2006 (for trade date March 20), CME is launching the CME E-mini MSCI EAFE futures, the first futures contract based on the MSCI EAFE (Europe, Australasia, and Far East) Index, the preeminent benchmark for measuring international stock market performance.

The CME E-mini MSCI EAFE futures contract are currently available for testing in the CME certification environment.

More information on the CME E-mini MSCI EAFE futures launch is available online.

New Options Spreads for CME Eurodollar Weekly One-Year Mid-Curves 
Effective Sunday, March 26, 2006 (for trade date March 27), to further enhance the depth and liquidity of the electronic CME Eurodollar markets, CME is launching seven new options spreads on CME Eurodollar Weekly One-Year Mid-Curves:

• Ratio Call and Put Spread
• Horizontal Straddle Spread
• Call and Put Horizontal Spread
• Call and Put Tree Spread
• Call and Put Butterfly Spread
• Call and Put Condor Spread
• Risk Reversal Spread

These spreads will be available for testing in the CME certification environment this Monday, March 13.

More information on the CME Eurodollar Weekly One-Year Mid-Curves spreads launch is available online.

Contra-Party Subscriber ID Change 
Effective Sunday, March 26 (for trade date Monday, March 27), CME is modifying FIX tag 375, the contra-party Subscriber ID, in CME Globex execution messages.

Currently, FIX tag 375 is disseminated in CME Globex execution messages with the six-character clearing firm identifier followed by the two-character CME iLink identifier (e.g. 'CME187M1'). To improve the anonymity of the CME markets, CME is replacing the two-character CME iLink identifier with two blanks (e.g. 'CME187 '). The clearing firm will still be identified in the first six characters of tag 375.

Please note: this change only applies to CME Globex execution messages.

This change to the CME Globex execution messages will be available for testing in the CME certification environment this Monday, March 13.

Variable Tick Threshold Change for CME Equity Options 
Effective Sunday, April 2, 2006 (trade date April 3), to better support spread trading, CME is increasing the variable tick threshold from 3.00 to 5.00 index points for the following options on futures and option spreads:

• CME E-Mini S&P 500^®
• CME S&P 500
• CME S&P 500/Citigroup Growth
• CME S&P 500/Citigroup Value

This change will be available for testing in the CME certification environment Monday, March 20, via the 8A (equivalent to the CME E-mini S&P 500 options) and 8B (equivalent to the CME S&P 500, CME S&P 500/Citigroup Growth and CME S&P 500/Citigroup Value options).

More information on this CME Equity variable tick threshold change is available online.

CME Equity Tick Size Changes 
Effective Sunday, April 2, 2006 (trade date April 3), in response to customer requests, CME is reducing the minimum tick size from 0.50 to 0.25 index points for the CME NASDAQ-100^® and CME E-mini NASDAQ-100 futures.

More information on this change is available online.

Reminder: CME Market Data API Elimination 
As previously announced, CME is eliminating CME Market Data API (MD API), the legacy market data vehicle, on July 1, 2006. All CME MD API customers must complete the migration to the CME Market Data Platform before July 1.

More information on the CME MD API cut-off and the CME Market Data Platform is available online.

CME FirmSoft Administration Interface 
To provide greater control and flexibility over CME FirmSoft access rights to CME Clearing Firms, CME is introducing the CME FirmSoft Administration interface. Through this browser-based interface on the secure CME portal site, authorized CME Clearing Firm administrators will have the ability to directly add, modify and delete CME FirmSoft access rights for their employees and customers.

More information on the CME FirmSoft Administration Interface is available online.