Amy sent this to her Boxcar Trade Alerts subscribers. Martin O'Shield was kind enough to assemble this interesting information. I thought it should be more widely distributed. I hope Amy and Martin don't mind.
This is what Martin wrote:
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My apologies for the delay but even though the Chicago Mercantile Exchange merged with the Chicago Board of Trade, (my favorite), and the bought out the Comex, and the New York Mercantile Exchange, then merged them all under the "CME Group" Umbrella, each still requires individual Membership and not all "Clearing Firms" clears all exchanges.
Meaning it gets confusing fast as there isn't a clear "Path", but though you can go to the following Chicago Mercantile Exchange website to deal direct with the "Clearing Firms", it is my experience, like "Retail Trading Brokerage Firms", not all of them are alike: https://www.cmegroup.com/clearing/financial-and-regulatory-surveillance/clearing-firms.html
As you have previously stated to me, your interested in trading "The Indexes/Indices" and the "Indexes" are traded here in Chicago really at 3 Exchanges, but for this email we'll only cover 2:
1. The Chicago Board of Trade
2. Chicago Mercantile Exchange, (The Merk)
Let's start with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange first who has "Levels of Membership" broken down according to the following:
There are four divisions of individual CME memberships representing the four levels of access to CME products.
You can "Lease" what we call a "Full Seat", (The Equal of 'Owning a Seat' listed above), for prices no Chicagoan has experienced since the 1970s, (it feels):
I recommend is that you LEASE a IMM and/or IOM CME Seat as it allows you to trade both Index Futures & Options Contracts at the lowest prices available to "Members of the Exchange". Yes "Leasing a Seat/Badge" gives you "Membership" privileges.
That was for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange who merged with the Chicago Board of Trade and this is how the CBOT structures its Membership:
Each type determines eligibility for trading certain products at reduced rates and provides access to trading on the CME Group trading floor.
For the CBOT, either "Lease" a (B-2) AM Seat/Badge, or at a minimum, a (B-4) IDEM Badge and/or a (B-1) FULL Seat Badge
You can trust but verify all of the above here, but I just wanted to explain it before you looked at it:
https://www.cmegroup.com/company/membership/individual/
This is what Martin wrote:
--------------------------------
My apologies for the delay but even though the Chicago Mercantile Exchange merged with the Chicago Board of Trade, (my favorite), and the bought out the Comex, and the New York Mercantile Exchange, then merged them all under the "CME Group" Umbrella, each still requires individual Membership and not all "Clearing Firms" clears all exchanges.
Meaning it gets confusing fast as there isn't a clear "Path", but though you can go to the following Chicago Mercantile Exchange website to deal direct with the "Clearing Firms", it is my experience, like "Retail Trading Brokerage Firms", not all of them are alike: https://www.cmegroup.com/clearing/financial-and-regulatory-surveillance/clearing-firms.html
As you have previously stated to me, your interested in trading "The Indexes/Indices" and the "Indexes" are traded here in Chicago really at 3 Exchanges, but for this email we'll only cover 2:
1. The Chicago Board of Trade
2. Chicago Mercantile Exchange, (The Merk)
Let's start with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange first who has "Levels of Membership" broken down according to the following:
There are four divisions of individual CME memberships representing the four levels of access to CME products.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) (B1) membership
Trades: Any CME Exchange-listed contract*International Monetary Market (IMM) (B2) membership
Trades: Foreign Exchange, Interest Rate and Equity Index futures, and all IOM and GEM products*Index and Option Market (IOM) (B3) membership
Trades: Equity Index futures contracts, random length Lumber contracts, all options contracts, and all GEM productsGrowth and Emerging Markets (GEM) (B4) membership
Trades: Various products including contracts related to emerging market countries; restricted financialsIt very inexpensive to "LEASE" versus outright "Buying" but, if you would like to purchase a seat on the CME, the following is the pricing:CME Current Membership Prices | |
Last updated: October 23, 2020 9:31 AM CDT [Chicago Time] | *last updated price |
Membership Interest Sales | ||||
BID | OFFER | LAST SALE | DATE | |
CME | $300,000 | $350,000 | $340,000 | 09/23/20 |
IMM | $52,500 | $61,500 | $56,000 | 10/20/20 |
IOM | $15,000 | *$24,500 | $22,000 | 10/22/20 |
GEM | $1,000 | $1,800 | $1,200 | 10/09/20 |
You can "Lease" what we call a "Full Seat", (The Equal of 'Owning a Seat' listed above), for prices no Chicagoan has experienced since the 1970s, (it feels):
Chicago Mercantile Exchange, (CME) Full Lease Prices
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) (B1) membership
Trades: Any CME Exchange-listed contractLast updated: October 26, 2020 11:56 AM CDT [Chicago Time] |
CME Division
Reported Lease Information - New Leases | |||
EFFECTIVE DATE | TERM | LEASE PRICE | NEGOTIATED DATE |
08/27/20 | 3 mo. | $2,500 | 08/26/20 |
08/27/20 | 3 mo. | $2,500 | 08/26/20 |
08/04/20 | 12 mo. | $2,000 | 08/04/20 |
08/01/20 | 6 mo. | $2,200 | 07/31/20 |
07/06/20 | 6 mo. | $2,500 | 07/06/20 |
07/01/20 | 6 mo. | $2,500 | 06/25/20 |
07/01/20 | 6 mo. | $2,500 | 06/25/20 |
06/09/20 | 6 mo. | $2,200 | 06/09/20 |
06/01/20 | 6 mo. | $2,600 | 05/29/20 |
06/01/20 | 3 mo. | $2,200 | 05/29/20 |
I recommend is that you LEASE a IMM and/or IOM CME Seat as it allows you to trade both Index Futures & Options Contracts at the lowest prices available to "Members of the Exchange". Yes "Leasing a Seat/Badge" gives you "Membership" privileges.
Chicago Mercantile Exchange IMM Division
International Monetary Market (IMM) (B2) membership
Trades: Foreign Exchange, Interest Rate and Equity Index futures, and all IOM and GEM productsReported Lease Information - New Leases | |||
EFFECTIVE DATE | TERM | LEASE PRICE | NEGOTIATED DATE |
10/08/20 | 3 mo. | $750 | 10/08/20 |
09/22/20 | 3 mo. | $700 | 09/22/20 |
08/27/20 | 6 mo. + 5 days | $600 | 08/27/20 |
08/27/20 | 6 mo. + 5 days | $600 | 08/27/20 |
07/31/20 | 3 mo. | $700 | 07/31/20 |
07/31/20 | 3 mo. | $700 | 07/31/20 |
07/01/20 | 6 mo. | $700 | 06/30/20 |
06/01/20 | 6 mo. | $850 | 05/17/20 |
06/01/20 | 6 mo. | $850 | 05/17/20 |
05/11/20 | 3 mo. | $800 | 05/08/20 |
Chicago Mercantile Exchange IOM Division
Index and Option Market (IOM) (B3) membership
Trades: Equity Index futures contracts, random length Lumber contracts, all options contracts, and all GEM productsReported Lease Information - New Leases | |||
EFFECTIVE DATE | TERM | LEASE PRICE | NEGOTIATED DATE |
10/06/20 | 3 mo. | $150 | 10/06/20 |
09/14/20 | 6 mo. | $275 | 09/14/20 |
09/01/20 | 6 mo. | $275 | 08/31/20 |
08/24/20 | 6 mo. + 8 days | $200 | 08/24/20 |
08/24/20 | 6 mo. | $250 | 08/21/20 |
08/17/20 | 6 mo. | $250 | 08/17/20 |
08/12/20 | 6 mo. | $200 | 08/11/20 |
08/10/20 | 6 mo. | $275 | 08/07/20 |
08/07/20 | 6 mo. | $250 | 08/06/20 |
07/27/20 | 3 mo. | $100 | 07/27/20 |
That was for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange who merged with the Chicago Board of Trade and this is how the CBOT structures its Membership:
CBOT Individual Membership
Individual Membership Divisions
There are five levels of individual CBOT memberships.Each type determines eligibility for trading certain products at reduced rates and provides access to trading on the CME Group trading floor.
*(B-1) Full Members (FULL)
Trades: All financial and Agricultural futures and options contracts*(B-2) Associate Members (AM)
Trades: All financial futures and options and Agricultural options only(B-3) Government, Instruments Market (GIM) Members
Trades: Financial instrument futures*(B-4) Index, Debt and Energy Market (IDEM) Members
Trades: Fed Fund and index futures(B-5) Commodity Options Market (COM) Members
Trades: OptionsFor the CBOT, either "Lease" a (B-2) AM Seat/Badge, or at a minimum, a (B-4) IDEM Badge and/or a (B-1) FULL Seat Badge
Chicago Board of Trade Lease Prices
Membership (W/out Stock) Lease Prices with Corresponding Sales Prices as of 10/26/2020
B-1 (Full) Leases Available 14 | B-2 (AM) Leases Available 46 | B-3 (GIM) Leases Available 6 | B-4 (IDEM) Leases Available 46 | B-5 (COM) Leases Available 51 |
2@$566.27 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Month-end Rental Dollar Amount (as of 09/30/20) | | | | |
$566.27 | $276.44 | $210.00 | $20.00 | $50.00 |
Last 3 Membership Sales | ||||
$178,000 - 10/22/20 | $43,000 - 08/21/20 | $20,000 - 03/02/20 | $1,200 - 10/23/20 | $4,000 - 08/11/20 |
$171,000 - 10/08/20 | $44,000 - 08/13/20 | $23,500 - 01/22/19 | $2,400 - 06/19/20 | $4,000 - 07/08/20 |
$175,000 - 10/02/20 | $40,000 - 07/31/20 | $40,000 - 12/07/17 | $2,000 - 06/18/20 | $3,000 - 03/18/20 |
https://www.cmegroup.com/company/membership/individual/