CHICAGO, April 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced that a record 3,002,818 agricultural futures and options contracts traded yesterday, April 4, 2018 – surpassing the 3 million milestone for the first time. The company also reported that a record 778,841 agricultural futures and options contracts traded yesterday outside of U.S. trading hours, nearly double the previous daily non-U.S. volume record set in April 2016.

CME Group agriculture futures also reached a new record of 3,606 Large Open Interest Holders (LOIH) in March 2018, surpassing the previous LOIH record of 3,439 contracts set in 2011. Open interest in agricultural futures and options reached 9,253,835 contracts overall yesterday, just below the all-time record of 9,323,738 set in 2016.

"Amid global economic uncertainty, market participants around the world continue to turn to CME Group's agriculture futures and options for deep liquidity and flexibility," said Tim Andriesen, CME Group Managing Director, Agricultural Commodities. "In particular, our benchmark agricultural products have experienced high volumes outside of U.S. market hours, demonstrating the strength of these tools to manage risk around the clock."

Additional information about CME Group's Agricultural Products can be found at www.cmegroup.com/agriculture.

As the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, CME Group (www.cmegroup.com) is where the world comes to manage risk. CME Group exchanges offer the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes, including futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural products and metals. Around the world, CME Group brings buyers and sellers together through its CME Globex® electronic trading platform. CME Group also operates one of the world's leading central counterparty clearing providers through CME Clearing, which offers clearing and settlement services across asset classes for exchange-traded and over-the-counter derivatives. CME Group products and services ensure that businesses around the world can effectively manage risk and achieve growth.

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SOURCE CME Group