CME Globex Notices: April 19, 2010

FIX/FAST Market Data Platform Channel Changes
Effective this June, a few Market Data Platform channels will be split to better manage messaging rates and performance.

The impacted channels and schedules are listed below.

Channel 7 - CME Equity Futures

• The current channel 7 will broadcast only CME E-mini S&P 500 futures (tag 55-Symbol=ES)
• New channel 15 will broadcast all CME Equity futures except CME E-mini S&P 500 futures
• Production split on Sunday, June 6
• New Release split is available now

Channel 8 - CME Equity Options

• The current channel 8 will broadcast only CME E-mini S&P options (tag 55-Symbol=EZ, EW)
• New channel 16 will broadcast all CME Equity options except CME E-mini S&P 500 options
• Production split on Sunday, June 6
• New Release split is available now

Channel 32 - NYMEX Metals, Softs and Alternative Markets and COMEX Futures

• The current channel 32 will broadcast only NYMEX Metals, Softs and Alternative Markets futures
• New channel 33 will broadcast all COMEX futures
• Production split on Sunday, June 20
• New Release split is available now

Channel 37 - NYMEX Metals, Softs and Alternative Markets and COMEX Options

• The current channel 37 will broadcast only NYMEX Metals, Softs and Alternative Markets options
• New channel 38 will broadcast all COMEX options
• Production split on Sunday, June 20
• New Release split is available now

Current channel configuration information is available on the ftp.cmegroup.com site as outlined in the  Core Functionality module of the FIX/FAST Software Development Kit.

 FIX/FAST 2.0 Launch 
Effective Sunday, May 9, 2010, CME Globex will launch FIX/FAST 2.0 in production, on a subset of new Market Data Platform channels. As of Sunday, June 6, CME Globex market data will be disseminated exclusively in FIX/FAST 2.0 format. This launch introduces a number of customer-requested enhancements to support trading and market data strategies.

The FIX/FAST 2.0 format is not backward-compatible to the current FIX/FAST format. Even if a customer does not want to take advantage of these enhancements, to ensure uninterrupted access to CME Globex market data, all current customer systems are required to develop to FIX/FAST 2.0 and complete mandatory certification via AutoCert+.

FIX/FAST 2.0 is currently available for customer testing in the New Release environment. Information on this release can be found online in the  FIX/FAST 2.0 Client Impact Assessment.

Mock Trading Sessions
Mock trading sessions with FIX/FAST 2.0 in the CME Globex production environment will be offered Saturday, May 1 and May 8, 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. Central time. An  overview of the mock trading session is now available. Customers must  register online to participate.

New Templates in New Release
This weekend in New Release, new templates will be published in the template.xml file on the  CME Group ftp site for FIX/FAST 2.0.

CME Globex Performance Enhancements for Select CBOT Commodity Futures
Effective Sunday, May 2, 2010, CME Group is implementing an upgrade to select CBOT Commodity futures markets on the CME Globex electronic trading platform that are expected to result in improved order routing message response times. In internal testing environments, this upgrade has reduced iLink response times by up to 10%. This upgrade is designed to enhance our liquid, efficient and competitive marketplace for participants worldwide.

These performance improvements will be applied to the following products.

There will be no changes to functionality or messaging format with these performance improvements. Good 'Till Cancelled and Good 'Till Date (GTC/GTD) orders will not be impacted.

CME Globex Performance Enhancements for Interest Rate, NYMEX Energy and NYMEX and COMEX Metal Futures
In May 2010, CME Group is implementing an upgrade to Interest Rate, NYMEX and COMEX futures markets on the CME Globex electronic trading platform that will result in significantly reduced message response times. Already among the fastest in the industry, this upgrade is expected to reduce iLink and FIX/FAST response times by an average of 15% for Interest Rate futures and future spreads, and an average of 20% for NYMEX and COMEX futures and future spreads.

Please note: as a result of the reduced message response times, bandwidth utilization in these futures markets is expected to ultimately increase by as much as 20%.

There will be no changes to functionality or messaging format with these performance improvements. Good 'Till Cancelled and Good 'Till Date (GTC/GTD) orders will not be impacted.

This upgrade is designed to enhance our liquid, efficient and competitive marketplace for participants worldwide. It is scheduled for a phased launch as follows:

Scheduled for Sunday, May 2

• All listed futures and future spreads for:
  • Legacy CME Interest Rates
  • Legacy CBOT Interest Rates

Scheduled for Sunday, May 9

• All listed futures and future spreads for:
  • NYMEX Energy
  • NYMEX Metals
  • NYMEX Softs
  • COMEX Metals

Distillers' Dried Grain Futures and Calendar Spreads
Effective this Sunday, April 25 (trade date Monday, April 26), Distillers' Dried Grain futures and calendar spreads (tag 1151-SecurityGroup=DDG) will be listed for trading on the CME Globex platform.

Distillers’ Dried Grains (DDGs) are the dried residue remaining after the starch fraction of corn is fermented with selected yeasts and enzymes to produce ethanol. After fermentation, the alcohol is removed by distillation and the remaining residues are either dried or remain wet. Although DDGs are used primarily as a feed additive for cattle and dairy cows, they are also being incorporated into other livestock feed rations. More information on DDGs is available  online.

These futures and calendar spreads are currently available for customer testing in New Release.

International Skimmed Milk Powder Futures and Options
Effective Sunday, May 9 (trade date Monday, May 10), International Skimmed Milk Powder futures and options will launch on the CME Globex platform. It is the first exchange-listed dairy contract with physical delivery points located across the globe. They complete the set of hedging tools needed by producers and wholesalers for profit margin management.

Skimmed milk in powder form has become a popular source of protein because it does not require refrigeration, making it easier to transport and store than fluid milk or dairy products containing fat. Delivery points for the electronically traded product include Auckland (New Zealand), Los Angeles, CA (US), Melbourne (Australia), Newark, NJ (US), Rotterdam (Netherlands) and Seattle, WA (US). The international dry milk market size is estimated at $6.7 billion U.S. dollars.

These futures and options will be available for customer testing in Certification and New Release Monday, April 26.

CME Crude Palm Oil Futures
Effective Sunday, May 23 (trade date Monday, May 24), CME Crude Palm Oil futures and calendar spreads will be listed for trading on the CME Globex platform.

With this launch CME Group customers will be able to trade the world's most-consumed edible oil in a cash-settled, dollar-denominated contract, with the safety and liquidity of CME Group. This expansion of the edible oil product suite also creates opportunities for cross-trading with soybean oil based on the historically strong correlation between these products. Together, crude palm oil and soybean oil account for about 61 percent of all the edible oil in the world.

Crude Palm Oil futures will have tag 1151-SecurityGroup=CPO and tag 55-Symbol=UC. It is listed on CME (tag 207=XCME) and market data will be distributed on the CME Commodity Futures Market Data Platform channel (13).

The new dollar-denominated Crude Palm Oil futures are currently available for customer testing in the New Release environment.

iLink Session ID Auto-Deletion Process
Effective Monday, April 5, CME Group implemented the quarterly iLink session ID auto-delete process.

Idle iLink session IDs needlessly consume resources and make load balancing and resource allocation planning more difficult. CME Group is committed to managing session IDs to ensure the best performance on CME Globex for our customers. The iLink session ID auto-delete process helps ensure these resources are managed proactively and consistently across the marketplace.

Details on the process are available  online. An e-mail notification was distributed to Class A clearing firms on Monday, April 5. Idle session IDs that have not been granted an exemption will be deleted at end of day Friday, May 7, 2010.