Chicago Board to Launch Online Trading

Fighting back against possible competition from a New York exchange in the lucrative business of trading in U.S. Treasury bonds, the giant Chicago Board of Trade is setting its sights on New York’s contracts for trading cotton, orange juice, coffee, sugar and cocoa. The Chicago Board of Trade, the world’s largest futures exchange, plans to launch daytime online trading of futures and options contracts for the commodities that are a mainstay of the Board of Trade of the City of New York. Chicago’s electronic trading contracts will mirror that of the New York exchange’s subsidiaries, according to the CBOT. But it did not provide details of the contracts or announce when they would begin trading. The move was seen as a shot across the bow of the New York Board of Trade and its alliance with brokerage firm Cantor, Fitzgerald & Co. The venture would electronically trade U.S. Treasury securities, contracts that represent about 70% of the CBOT’s business.