Chicago Mercantile Exchange

The former Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) (NYSE and Nasdaq: CME), often referred to by Chicago traders as "the Merc," is a global futures and options on futures exchange that in July 2007 acquired the Chicago Board of Trade to become CME Group. CME's futures and options offerings, which are about 75 percent electronically traded on the CME Globex electronic trading platform, include interest rates, equities, currencies, commodities, and alternative investment instruments including weather and real estate derivatives.
Volume at the exchange in 2017 was 1.8 million, down 2.5 percent from the previous year. 
== History ==
The Chicago Butter and Egg Board, founded in 1898, was the precursor to what is now known as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). It was established as an agricultural commodities exchange, primarily dealing with the trading of butter and eggs, which were highly perishable and valuable commodities at the time. The Chicago Butter and Egg Board was created to provide a centralized marketplace for the trading of these perishable goods. This was essential for ensuring fair pricing and efficient distribution, which was critical for producers and consumers alike. The board functioned as a non-profit organization owned by its members, a common structure for exchanges during that period.
In September 1919, the Chicago Butter and Egg Board was dissolved and restructured as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. This change reflected a broader focus on a wider range of commodities beyond just butter and eggs, including products like potatoes, onions, and cheese. This transition marked the beginning of the CME's evolution into a major player in the global financial markets. Early planners included C.E. McNeil, S.E. Davis and O.W. Olson. On the first day of trading as the CME, 3 contracts traded and a total of 8 were traded for the week.
It was after World War I that public participation of the markets was allowed.
The CME changed its management structure in 1953, creating the position of chairman and two vice chairmen and designated the president as the principal operating officer of the exchange. Previously, the executive vice president served as the chief operating officer and the president as the chairman of the board of governors. Also, under the new setup, exchange had a paid president for the first time.
Although the CME claims in various marketing materials to have "invented" financial futures, in fact the now defunct International Commerce Exchange, founded in 1970 by members of the New York Produce Exchange (with which it soon merged), and located in New York, was the first exchange to trade currency futures, beginning on Apr. 23, 1970, two years before the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
From its not-for-profit membership organization roots, the CME on Nov. 13, 2000 became the first U.S. financial exchange to demutualize into a shareholder-owned corporation. In December 2002, CME became a publicly traded company. 
Investors who bought the exchanges publicly traded Class A shares at the initial public offering price made total returns of nearly 3,000 percent, compared with about 340 percent for the broader stock market, but they did not get 100% of CME directors' seats - six of the 20 sitting CME directors are elected by Class B shares issued to owners of CME seats when the exchange converted from a member-owned organization to a corporation in 2000. In August of 2018, CME offered holders of Class B shares about $10 million to relinquish their control of six board seats, part of a move to trim down the board of directors.
In October 2006 the exchange announced that CME and cross-town rival, the Chicago Board of Trade, intended to pursue a merger, which in July 2007 was consummated. The merged corporation is CME Group. In March of 2008, the CME Group purchased the New York Mercantile Exchange for $8.9 Billion dollars. 
In 2008, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and CME reached a $1 billion settlement on a long-running a court case regarding who owns the (CBOE). The settlement ended an almost two-year lawsuit that had prevented the CBOE from merging with another exchange or going public. The settlement provided full CBOT members with an 18 percent stake in the CBOE and $300 million in cash, terms worth roughly $1 billion with a $4 billion valuation of the options market. To qualify for the settlement, CBOT members had to have valid trading rights at the CBOE and own 10,251 shares of the CME Group, which was formed in 2007 when the CME bought the CBOT. Rejected settlements ranged between $850 million and $1.3 billion.
In late 2019 the CME took measures to rein in "runaway algorithms which caused data volumes to surge at the exchange. This volume "mainly consisted of digital messages that showed changes to quotes to buy or sell Eurodollar futures."
Presidents of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange have included E.B. Harris, Clayton Yeutter, William Brodsky, Rick Kilcollin and James McNulty.
(See CME Group for additional historical highlights.)
== Headquarters Locations ==
Through the years, the CME has moved several times to accommodate the growth of the exchange. Though the exchange maintains its offices on Wacker Drive in Chicago, in 2008, floor trading of CME products was consolidated with those of the Chicago Board of Trade at the latter's old address at LaSalle and Jackson in Chicago after it merged with CME in 2007. The history of the exchange's office locations includes:
*20 S. Wacker: 1983 to Present
*444 West Jackson: 1972 to 1983
*110 North Franklin: 1928 to 1972
*Lake and Wells: 1912 to 1928
*South Water Street: 1898 to 1912
== CME Annual Report ==
Year	Annual Report 	Year	Annual Report
2022	2022 CME Annual Report	2017	2017 CME Annual Report
2021	2021 CME Annual Report	2016	2016 CME Annual Report
2020	2020 CME Annual Report	2015	2015 CME Annual Report
2019	2019 CME Annual Report	2014	2014 CME Annual Report
2018	2018 CME Annual Report	2013	2013 CME Annual Report
2012	2012 CME Annual Report	2011	2011 CME Annual Report
2010	2010 CME Annual Report	2009	2009 CME Annual Report
2008	2008 CME Annual Report	2007	2007 CME Annual Report
2006	2006 CME Annual Report	2005	2005 CME Annual Report
2004	2004 CME Annual Report	2003	2003 CME Annual Report
2002	2002 CME Annual Report	 	
== See Also ==
*CME Globex-Certified Trading Applications
Product pages:
*CME Group 10-Year Interest Rate Swaps
*CME Group 10-Year US Treasury Note
*CME Group 2-Year US Treasury Note
*CME Group 30-Year Interest Rate Swaps
*CME Group 5-Year Interest Rate Swaps
*CME Group 5-Year US Treasury Note
*CME Group Seasonal Strip Weather Heating Degree Day
== References ==
== External links ==
CME Group web site
Category:Exchanges
Category:Futures Exchanges
Category:North American Exchanges
Category:CryptoMarketsWiki
Category:Companies Based in Chicago