The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is an American financial and commodity derivatives exchange based in Chicago. CME offers trading on many financial instruments, including commodities, currencies, equities, and interest rates.
Currency: US Dollar (USD)
Trading Summary
Trading is conducted via two methods: an open outcry format and the CME Globex electronic trading platform. Approximately 80% of total volume at the exchange occurs electronically on CME Globex.
Please make sure that you familiarize yourself with the expiration dates of the different contracts. You can find these by reviewing the contract specifications on the CME Group website. For example, for the S&P 500 E-Mini contract: Contract Specs
You can use the following formula to calculate the contract value for each futures series. This value represents the amount of Buying Power (BP) you would need to trade a single contract.
- Canadian Dollar futures: contract value = price * $100,000
- E-mini Nasdaq 100 futures: contract value = price * $20
- E-mini S&P 500 futures: contract value = price * $50
- Euro FX futures: contract value = price * $50
- Eurodollar futures: contract value = price * $125,000
- Nikkei 225 (dollar) futures: contract value = price * $5
Order Types
- Limit Buy/Sell→ShortSell
- Market Buy/Sell→ShortSell
Basic Market Rules
- Lot Size: 1 contract.
- Tick Size: varies, see the Group Product Slate for more information.
- Short Sale Rules: short selling is allowed, and no mark or locates are required for shorting.
- Circuit Breakers: for more information, you can see the Special Price Fluctuation Limits and Daily Price Limits Excel file.
For more information, see the CME Rulebook page.
Globex Opening
Prior to the opening of each Globex session, Globex will provide an indicative price or prices, based on the Globex equilibrium price algorithm as follows, and on all pending orders that may be executed on the opening.
During the 30-second period prior to the opening, no previously entered orders may be modified or cancelled, though new orders may be entered. Globex will establish an equilibrium price that will be the opening price. The equilibrium price is the calculated price between sell pressure and buy pressure where the largest volume of trading can occur. The equilibrium price is one of the following:
- a) The price within the equilibrium that has the largest trade volume and the lowest unmatched volume at that price remaining after the opening; or
- b) If more than one price has the same trade volume and the same unmatched volume at that price, the equilibrium price is the one nearest the previous day’s settlement price.
Bids and Offers will be selected for matching at the opening price based on price-time priority.
Fee Changes
February 1, 2020
CME will adjust their trading fees as follows:
| Gateway | Contract Codes | Description | Current Fee | New Fee |
| CME | ES, NQ | E-mini Futures fee | 1.65 (per contract) | 1.66 (per contract) |
| CME | 6C | Canadian Dollar Futures fee | 1.99 (per contract) | 2.01 (per contract) |
| CME | 6E | Euro FX Futures fee | 1.99 (per contract) | 2.01 (per contract) |
| CME | NKD | Nikkei Futures fee | 2.75 (per contract) | 2.76 (per contract) |
| CME | GE | Eurodollar Futures fee | 3 (per contract) | 3.02 (per contract) |
July 10, 2019
The gateway fee for the CME Micro E-mini Futures will increase from 0.2 per contract to 0.52 per contract.
For more details, please see the following table:
| CME Micro E-mini Futures | |||||
| Gateway | Contract Code | Expiry Month Code | Currency | Description | Fee |
| CME | MES, MNQ, M2K, MYM | H, M, U, Z | USD | Micro E-mini Futures fee | 0.52 (per contract) |
