Successful start of extended U.S. afternoon trading on Eurex

U.S. participation in benchmark products increasing/ Optimal liquidity with one tick bid/ask spreads/ USD margin call service launched successfully

Extended U.S. afternoon trading on the international derivatives exchange Eurex has seen a successful start since its introduction on November 21, the exchange announced on Tuesday. An average of approximately 59,000 contracts per day was traded during the extended trading hours in the first week. Eurex extended the trading day for its benchmark financial products until 4:00 p.m. New York time/ 3:00 p.m. Chicago time (10:00 p.m. Frankfurt time).

According to Eurex, liquidity in the extended U.S. afternoon trading has been optimal with the tightest possible bid/ask spreads of one tick for almost the entire time. Approximately half of all 400 Eurex members have been active during the extended trading hours. Furthermore, of the total number of U.S.-based members of Eurex, approximately 60 percent were active.

By covering more of the U.S. trading day Eurex can better serve its global customer base. The extended trading day enables Eurex to offer its clients additional trading opportunities, such as spread trading of EUR/USD products as well as significant enhancements of members’ portfolio and risk management.

The new trading hours apply for Euro fixed-income products, including the globally traded benchmark products Euro-Bund, Euro-Bobl, Euro-Schatz and Euro-Buxl, as well as for all equity index futures, including futures on the DAX and Dow Jones Euro STOXX indices. Previously, fixed-income products had been traded until 12:00pm Chicago time (7:00 p.m. Frankfurt time) and index futures until 1:00pm Chicago time (8:00 p.m. Frankfurt time). Trading hours for equity options and equity index options remain unchanged.

Parallel to the extended U.S. afternoon trading, Eurex Clearing has enhanced its service portfolio by offering an intra-day margin call facility in U.S. dollars. This service was launched successfully on November 21. Furthermore, Eurex has also enabled the outsourcing of order maintenance, in order to increase trading flexibility for members.