Amendments to NYMEX Rules 115.09, 116.09, 117.10 and 300.08 Notice to Exercise - Effective Monday, August 16, 2010

At the request of our customers, the following deadlines for submission of NYMEX/COMEX option exercise or abandon notices to the Exchange for both Customers and Clearing Members have been amended and will become effective at the opening of business on Monday, August 16, 2010.

A Notice of Exercise or Abandon shall be effective only if received by a Clearing Member from a Customer not later than 4:15PM ET (currently 3:00PM ET) on any business day on which an option contract month is trading , other than the Expiration date, and not later than 5:15PM ET (currently 4:00PM ET) on the Expiration Date of an option contract.

A Notice of Exercise or Abandon shall be effective only if received by the Exchange from a Clearing Member not later than 5:30PM ET (currently 4:30PM ET) on any trading day including the Expiration Date of an option contract.

The current Clearing Member submission deadline is 4:30PM ET, although trading in the underlying futures contract continues trading until 5:15PM ET on GLOBEX. Due to extreme volatile markets in recent trading sessions, Customers or Clearing Member trading desks have requested to submit new or additive option exercise or abandon notices while trading is still active and the prices are moving.

Prior to September 11, 2001, the exercise submission deadline was set for Customers at 4:15PM ET for non-expiring options and 5:15PM ET for expiring options and for Clearing Members at 5:30PM ET for any option. After September 11, 2001, with the reduction in trading hours, the exercise submission deadlines were adjusted accordingly. These submission deadlines were never readjusted even though most markets were returned to normal trading hours. With the addition of trading hours on Globex until 5:15PM ET, this extension will extend the submission deadline to the end of the current trading day and leave a 30 - 45 minute window before the next trading day’s session begins.

If you have any questions, please call Anthony Di Benedetto at 212-299-2152, Melvin Garcia at 212-299-2144, Joe Fata at 212-299-2165 or the CME Clearing Services Hotline at 312-207-2525.