ONLINE FUTURES TRADING

Most futures contracts trade online (electronically) during some part of the day, in contrast to the traditional open outcry on the exchange floor, and for some contracts such as the E-mini® S&P 500® futures, online trading is the only way. Online day trading of the E-mini's along with essentially all of the electronically traded products of CME Group take place on the CME® Globex® trading platform. This platform is an open access marketplace that allows the day trader to participate directly in the trading process, view the book of orders and prices for the E-mini and enter their own buy and sell orders globally nearly 24 hours a day. Speed of execution and confirmation (typically measured in milliseconds) transparency, anonymity and reliability of this electronic platform have all been instrumental to the contract's success among day traders.

In fact, online trading has become the execution of choice among futures traders. According to CME Group, electronically executed trading accounted for 86% of its total volume in 2009.

Trading on the Globex platform is generally available Sunday evening through late Friday afternoon. For the E-mini S&P 500 day trader, the official close of trading for the day is at 3:15 p.m. CT. All open trades need to be closed out prior to the official close. Trading hours of the E-mini S&P 500 futures on Globex are as follows (Central Time):

Opens Sunday and Holidays at 5:00 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. next day.
Trading for next trade date resumes:
Monday – Friday 3:30 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. next day with exception of daily maintenance shutdown from 4:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

According to a recent order execution study conducted by CME Group, approximately two-thirds of all E-mini market orders consist of one to five contracts, and larger-size market orders tend to be placed in the time period corresponding to the open and close of the equity cash market. The study also notes that approximately 90 percent of all market orders of fewer than 50 contracts are being executed in 50 milliseconds or less.

The Globex platform is continuously enhanced to serve customers with high-speed, high-volume capacity. The CME Globex Control Center monitors trading activity and system performance around-the-clock to assure the orderly functioning of E-mini S&P 500 futures as well as all other electronic markets.