Butter and eggs were the mainstays of the fledgling Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Until well past mid-century, in fact, agriculture futures were the only game for the exchange, which ran a distant second to the Chicago Board of Trade.
The Merc was willing to trade almost any product. Most contracts fizzled after initial interest faded.
Then the exchange hit on a winner. Financial futures were first listed in the early 1970s under a separate division called the International Monetary Market. Financial-futures trading has grown so much that it accounts for as much as 95 percent of the Merc’s volume.
Agricultural futures, now mostly cattle and hog-product contracts, have languished, and exchange leaders have worried that younger traders haven’t been attracted to the complex.
Since only full Merc members can trade all listed contracts, the exchange leadership presented a plan that would give IMM members full trading privileges, including ag contracts, and pay Merc seatholders up to $70,000, representing the difference between IMM and full Merc seats.
The plan is expected to be approved by year’s end.
