SUBMISSION COVER SHEET

IMPORTANT: Check box if Confidential Treatment is requested

Registered Entity Identifier Code (optional): 23-284

Organization: The Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. (“CBOT”)

Filing as a: DCM SEF DCO SDR 

Please note - only ONE choice allowed.

Filing Date (mm/dd/yy): July 6, 2023 Filing Description: Extension of the Agriculture 

Block Broker Volume Incentive Program

SPECIFY FILING TYPE 

Please note only ONE choice allowed per Submission.

Organization Rules and Rule Amendments

Certification § 40.6(a)

Approval § 40.5(a)

Notification § 40.6(d)

Advance Notice of SIDCO Rule Change § 40.10(a)

SIDCO Emergency Rule Change § 40.10(h)

Rule Numbers: Not Applicable

New Product Please note only ONE product per Submission.

Certification § 40.2(a) 

Certification Security Futures § 41.23(a)

Certification Swap Class § 40.2(d)

Approval § 40.3(a)

Approval Security Futures § 41.23(b)

Novel Derivative Product Notification § 40.12(a)

Swap Submission § 39.5

Official Product Name: 

Product Terms and Conditions (product related Rules and Rule Amendments)

Certification § 40.6(a) 

Certification Made Available to Trade Determination § 40.6(a)

Certification Security Futures § 41.24(a)

Delisting (No Open Interest) § 40.6(a) 

Approval § 40.5(a)

Approval Made Available to Trade Determination § 40.5(a)

Approval Security Futures § 41.24(c)

Approval Amendments to enumerated agricultural products § 40.4(a), § 40.5(a)

“Non-Material Agricultural Rule Change” § 40.4(b)(5)

Notification § 40.6(d)

Official Name(s) of Product(s) Affected: 

Rule Numbers: 
300 Vesey Street New York, NY 10282 T 212 299 2200 F 212 301 4645 christopher.bowen@cmegroup.com cmegroup.com

Christopher Bowen 

Managing Director and Chief Regulatory Counsel

Legal Department

July 6, 2023

VIA ELECTRONIC PORTAL

Christopher J. Kirkpatrick

Office of the Secretariat

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Three Lafayette Centre

1155 21st Street, N.W.

Washington, DC 20581

RE: Extension of the Agriculture Block Broker Volume Incentive Program

CBOT Submission No. 23-284

Dear Mr. Kirkpatrick: 

The Board of Trade of the City of Chicago, Inc. ("CBOT" or “Exchange”) hereby notifies the Commodity Futures

Trading Commission (“CFTC” or “Commission”) of plans to extend the Agriculture Block Broker Volume Incentive 

Program (“Program”) through October 31, 2023. The extension of the Program will become effective on August 1, 

2023. All other terms remain unchanged. 

Exhibit 1 sets forth the terms of this Program. Modifications appear below, with additions underlined and deletions 

overstruck. 

The Exchange reviewed the designated contract market core principles (“Core Principles”) as set forth in the

Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA” or “Act”). During the review, CBOT staff identified the following Core Principles as

potentially being impacted: Monitoring of Trading, Execution of Transactions, Protection of Market Participants,

Compliance with Rules, Availability of General Information, and Recordkeeping.

The Program does not incentivize manipulative trading or market abuse or impact the Exchange’s ability to perform 

its trade practice and market surveillance obligations under the CEA. The Exchange’s market regulation staff will 

monitor trading in the Program’s products to prevent manipulative trading and market abuse. Additionally, CBOT has 

implemented systems to track Program participants’ volume to ensure proper distribution of earned incentives. The 

products included in this Program are listed for trading in the open and competitive market. The incentives under the 

Program do not adversely impact price discovery in the centralized market. Specifically, incentives under the Program 

are only available to brokers that submit previously matched third-party trades in the relevant products. The parties to

a trade have discretion to select the venue. Brokers earn incentives after venue selection is made. Principals who 

submit trades or execute orders for their own account or a proprietary account are not eligible for incentives under the 

Program. Thus, the Program does not influence the choice made by the principals regarding the execution venue. 

Participants in the Program will be selected by Exchange staff using criteria set forth in Exhibit 1. Chapter 4 of the 

CBOT rules includes prohibitions against fraudulent, non-competitive, unfair or abusive practices. The Program is 

subject to these rules and CBOT records retention policies that comply with the CEA.

The Exchange certifies that the Program complies with the CEA and the regulations thereunder. There were no 

substantive opposing views to this Program.

The Exchange certifies that this submission has been concurrently posted on the Exchange’s website at 

http://www.cmegroup.com/market-regulation/rule-filings.html.

If you require any additional information regarding this submission, please e-mail 

CMEGSubmissionInquiry@cmegroup.com or contact Rachel Johnson at 312-466-4393 or via e-mail at 

Rachel.Johnson@cmegroup.com. Please reference our CBOT Submission No. 23-284 in any related 

correspondence.

Sincerely,

/s/ Christopher Bowen

Managing Director and Chief Regulatory Counsel

Attachment: Exhibit 1
EXHIBIT 1

Agriculture Block Broker Volume Incentive Program

Program Purpose

The purpose of this Program is to encourage brokers to increase volume which will enhance market 

liquidity for the products listed below. More liquid contracts benefit all participants in the market.

Product Scope 

FOB Santos Soybeans Financially Settled (Platts) Futures (“SAS”) and Canadian Wheat (Platts) Futures

(“CWR”) (“Products”).

Eligible Participants

There is no limit to the number of participants in the Program. Participants must be non-member brokers.

Within thirty (30) days of enrolling in the Program, participants must provide a list of at least thirty (30) 

prospective or existing customers per Product that will be supported. Additionally, within thirty (30) days of 

supporting a Product, a participant must be linked as a broker for blocks in that Product with at least ten 

(10) customers signed up for SAS and five (5) customers signed up for CWR.

Program Term

Start date May 1, 2023. End date is July 31, 2023 October 31, 2023.

Hours

N/A

Obligations

In order to be eligible to receive the incentives, participants must (i) provide daily end of day settlement 

curves to the Exchange, and (ii) trade a minimum of seventy-four (74) contracts, measured in sides, per 

month.

Incentives

Monthly Incentive Pool: Upon meeting all requirements, as determined by the Exchange, participants will 

be eligible to receive a pro-rata portion of monthly incentive pool(s) based on their block and block spread

volume. Each Product will have its own monthly incentive pool that will be funded at $5,000 each plus 

additional contributions based on the total monthly block volume per Product as set forth in the table 

below. 

Total Monthly Block & 

Block Spread Volume

(Per Product)

Additional Pool 

Contribution 

(Additive to $5,000 Base)

1 – 200 contracts $17.50/contract

201 – 500 contracts $10.00/contract
501 – 5,000 contracts $2.50/contract

Monitoring and Termination of Status

The Exchange shall monitor trading activity and participants’ performance and shall retain the right to 

revoke participant status in the Program if it concludes from review that a participant no longer meets the 

requirements of the Program.