CHICAGO, March 2, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced that February 2016 volume averaged a record 18.7 million contracts per day, up 18 percent from February 2015. CME Group options volume averaged 3.5 million contracts per day, up 24 percent versus February 2015, with electronic options growing 38 percent over the same period.

Financial Products

Interest rate volume averaged 9.6 million contracts per day in February 2016, up 11 percent compared with February 2015, with record interest rate futures of 7.5 million contracts per day, up 7 percent from over the same period. Treasury futures and options volume was a record 5.1 million contracts per day, up 6 percent from the same period a year ago, and included record 5-year note and 10-year note futures. The new ultra 10-year U.S. Treasury note futures averaged 43,000 contracts per day in February, up from 17,000 per day in January, the month they launched. Treasury options reached 70 percent traded electronically for the first time. Eurodollar futures and options average daily volume of 4.4 million was up 15 percent. Eurodollar options reached an open interest record of 39.6 million contracts during the month, and Treasury futures open interest reached an all-time high of 8.5 million contracts.

Equity index volume in February 2016 averaged 3.5 million contracts per day, up 54 percent from February 2015. E-mini futures and options volume averaged 3.3 million contracts per day, up 53 percent. Equity futures averaged 2.8 million contracts per day, up 60 percent from the year-ago period, and equity options were up 33 percent over the same period.

Foreign exchange volume averaged 954,000 contracts per day in February 2016, up 26 percent from the same period a year ago.

Commodity Products

Energy volume averaged a record 2.7 million contracts per day in February 2016, up 13 percent from February 2015. It included record energy futures of 2.4 million contracts per day, record WTI crude oil futures and options of 1.5 million contracts per day, record RBOB gasoline futures of 192,000 contracts per day and record European gasoil futures of 23,000 contracts per day.

Agricultural commodities volume averaged 1.4 million contracts per day, up 2 percent from the prior-year period. Average daily volume for the month represented the fourth highest month ever.

Metals volume averaged 487,000 contracts per day, up 48 percent from the same period a year ago, representing the fourth highest monthly average daily volume. It also included monthly average daily volume records in gold weekly options, gold kilo futures, and E-micro gold futures.

Footnote: To see CME Group daily over-the-counter (OTC) notional cleared volumes and open interest, monthly OTC notional cleared volumes and monthly total trade count, go to http://www.cmegroup.com/education/cme-volume-oi-records.html.



    MONTHLY AVERAGE DAILY VOLUME (ADV)


                                           Total Exchange ADV

                                            ( in thousands)


                                       Feb 2016               Feb 2015
                                       --------               --------

    Trading
     Days                                            20                    19


    PRODUCT
     LINE                              Feb 2016               Feb 2015        Percent Change
                                       --------               --------        --------------

    Interest
     Rates                                        9,639                 8,706                11%

    Equity
     Indexes                                      3,481                 2,258                54%

    Foreign
     Exchange
     (FX)                                           954                   755                26%

    Energy                                        2,738                 2,413                13%

     Agricultural
     Commodities                                  1,371                 1,349                 2%

    Metals                                          487                   329                48%
                                                    ---                   ---                ---

         Total                                   18,671                15,810                18%


    VENUE                              Feb 2016               Feb 2015        Percent Change
                                       --------               --------        --------------

    Open
     outcry                                       1,402                 1,436                -2%

    CME
     Globex                                      16,390                13,690                20%

     Privately
     negotiated                                     879                   684                29%



    ROLLING
     THREE-
     MONTH
     AVERAGES


    Average
     Daily
     Volume
     (In
     thousands)


                  3-Month Period Ending

    PRODUCT
     LINE                 Feb-16         Jan-16        Dec-15        Nov-15

     Interest
     Rates                         7,996         7,087         6,097         6,272

    Equity
     Indexes                       3,552         3,187         2,743         2,922

    Foreign
     Exchange
     (FX)                            934           855           779           799

    Energy                         2,448         2,196         2,032         1,996

     Agricultural
     Commodities                   1,175         1,176         1,200         1,211

    Metals                           381           359           326           337
                                     ---           ---           ---           ---

         Total                    16,486        14,861        13,178        13,538


    VENUE                 Feb-16         Jan-16        Dec-15        Nov-15

    Open
     outcry                        1,448         1,330         1,055         1,055

    Electronic                    14,245        12,799        11,420        11,749

     Privately
     negotiated                      793           732           704           734



    Average Rate
     Per Contract
     (In dollars)


                   3-Month Period Ending

    PRODUCT LINE           Jan-16        Dec-15       Nov-15       Oct-15

    Interest Rates                 0.514        0.517        0.514        0.509

    Equity Indexes                 0.717        0.718        0.723        0.718

    Foreign
     Exchange (FX)                 0.788        0.813        0.799        0.783

    Energy                         1.240        1.232        1.186        1.194

    Agricultural
     Commodities                   1.333        1.339        1.320        1.302

    Metals                         1.631        1.644        1.641        1.615
                                   -----        -----        -----        -----

         Total                     0.772        0.789        0.775        0.762

As the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) is where the world comes to manage risk. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes, including futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities, metals, weather and real estate. CME Group brings buyers and sellers together through its CME Globex® electronic trading platform, its trading facilities in New York and Chicago, and through its London-based CME Europe derivatives exchange. CME Group also operates one of the world's leading central counterparty clearing providers through CME Clearing and CME Clearing Europe, which offer clearing and settlement services across asset classes for exchange-traded contracts and over-the-counter derivatives transactions. These products and services ensure that businesses everywhere can substantially mitigate counterparty credit risk.

CME Group is a trademark of CME Group Inc. The Globe Logo, CME, Globex and Chicago Mercantile Exchange are trademarks of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. CBOT and the Chicago Board of Trade are trademarks of the Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. NYMEX, New York Mercantile Exchange and ClearPort are registered trademarks of New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc. COMEX is a trademark of Commodity Exchange, Inc. KCBOT, KCBT and Kansas City Board of Trade are trademarks of The Board of Trade of Kansas City, Missouri, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Further information about CME Group (NASDAQ: CME) and its products can be found at www.cmegroup.com.

CME-G

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SOURCE CME Group