CME Group to shutter most futures pits

Chicago

THE world's largest futures market operator will shutter almost all of its open-outcry futures pits by July 2, ringing the closing bell on a once-raucous tradition that has been in decline since the rise of computerised trading.

The decision by CME Group Inc, announced on Wednesday, ousts traders of products ranging from grain and livestock in Chicago to gold and oil in New York. Once the only way to buy or sell a futures contract to hedge against price moves, open-outcry trading is now only one per cent of total futures trading volume, according to the exchange operator.