The Board of Trade passed a milestone.

The Chicago Board of Trade, the nation’s oldest futures exchange, was the first to generate trading of 100 million contracts in a single year, passing the milestone on Christmas Eve. The star performers are U.S. Treasury bond futures, the industry leader that by itself generates more business than do most other exchanges. The board isn’t the only exchange having an exceptional year. The New York Mercantile Exchange, where crude oil and platinum put on sensational performances in 1986, surpassed its annual volume record when the year was only half over. And the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the nation’s second-largest futures market, topped its record 1985 total volume of 56.5 million contracts on Oct. 22.