CME Group Announces the Launch of Three New Short-Term Gold, Crude Oil and Natural Gas Options Contracts

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Jun 21, 2011, 07:00 ET

CHICAGO, June 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced the launch of short-term options contracts for Gold, Crude Oil and Natural Gas to begin trading July 16. Short-term crude oil and natural gas options contracts are listed with, and subject to, the rules and regulations of NYMEX. Short-term gold options contracts are listed with, and subject to, the rules and regulations of COMEX.

"Recent global macroeconomic events and volatility underscore the need for tools to enable market participants to manage their basis risk every day," said Harriet Hunnable, Managing Director, Metals Products, CME Group. "Our innovative new short-term gold options contracts will provide customers with much greater flexibility to manage the risk associated with government economic data, world events and other market-moving factors, while enabling them to benefit from the lower cost associated with short-dated options."

Similar to the E-micro Gold futures contract, which launched in Q4 of 2010, short-term gold options also represent a cost-effective means for professional investors to gain exposure to gold.

These new short-term options contracts will have daily expiration dates listed up to five days in advance. Short-term gold options will run off the standard strike prices and the cycle month futures contract. Whereas, short-term natural gas and crude oil options will run off standard strike prices and the standard front-month futures contract.

"Customers have expressed a specific interest in short-dated options to allow them the flexibility to execute a variety of trading strategies over shorter time periods," said Mike Prokop, Managing Director, Energy Products, CME Group. "Additionally, regional crude oil and natural gas storage data, weather anomalies and other macroeconomic factors can have a dramatic impact on the energy markets. These new short-term crude oil and natural gas options contracts will enable market participants to better manage that kind of event risk."

Short-term gold, crude oil and natural gas options will be cash settled European style and will be listed for electronic trading on CME Globex and clearing through CME ClearPort®. Following the first week of listing, expirations will be every business day, except for those days when there is an associated gold, crude oil or natural gas options expiration.

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 and its trading facilities in New York and Chicago. CME Group also operates CME Clearing, one of the world's leading central counterparty clearing providers, which offers clearing and settlement services for exchange-traded contracts, as well as for over-the-counter derivatives transactions through CME ClearPort®. These products and services ensure that businesses everywhere can substantially mitigate counterparty credit risk in both listed and over-the-counter derivatives markets.

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. 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.

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SOURCE CME Group