CME Clearing members can enter and price a variety of trade types through our Front-End Clearing System, a web-based application available on CME Clearing Portal.
Discover the details about the different trade types accepted through our Front-End Clearing System.
A block trade is a privately-negotiated futures or option transaction executed apart from the public auction market (ex-pit transaction). It allows Eligible Contract Participants to engage in trades in eligible products to initiate or liquidate futures or option position(s), provided the block trade meets the minimum order size requirement.
With Single Line Entry of Differential Spreads (Sleds), CME Clearing allows simple futures calendar spreads to be matched at a differential price in FEC+. This allows buyers and sellers to set their leg prices as they see fit. The only requirements are that the leg prices remain within the spread range established for that trading day, the leg prices are at the product tick level, and the prices conform to the differential price.
A Calendar spread consists of two instruments with the same product with different maturity months. The individual contracts that institute a single spread are referred to as the legs of the spread.
Exchange for Related Positions (EFRP) transactions, also known as cash for futures include Exchange for Physical (EFP), Exchange for Risk (EFR), and Exchange for Options (EOO) transactions. EFRP transactions are ex-pit privately-negotiated transactions that allow traders to initiate or liquidate futures position(s) by completing a simultaneous purchase or sale of the actual underlying cash commodity with an opposite purchase or sale of the underlying futures contract.
EFRP trades executed during regular trading hours must be submitted to clearing. EFRP trades executed following the opening of the next CME Globex session should be submitted to clearing on a next-day basis.
The fungible offset functionality allows customers to offset specific contracts with their mini and micro counterparts at a specified ratio. This is accomplished using the FEC+ system and to be used for liquidation only.
The Singapore Exchange and CME have a Mutual Offset Agreement which allows trades executed at one Exchange to be transferred to the books of a firm at the other Exchange. Currently, Nikkei futures are eligible for inter-Exchange transfer through MOS.
For CME and CBOT Exchanges, following trade execution, the buying member and selling member are required to record specific information about each trade and submit such information to their respective Clearing Firms. Clearing Firms can submit the trades via Message Queue Manager (“MQM”) communication software or the FEC+ system.
Firms use transfers to move trades from one account to another or to correct errors for a variety of reasons. For more information about the conditions under which transfer trades can be submitted:
All transfer trades must include the appropriate transfer type code in the order type indicator field. The codes are as follows:
Code |
Description |
---|---|
A |
Exchange approved transfers between accounts with different beneficial ownership |
B |
For correcting Rule 527 mis-clears |
C |
Transfer between accounts in which the underlying beneficial ownership is identical |
E |
Transfer to correct an error in assignment of account (in-house) or customer/house origin error or firm-to-firm clerical error in clearing a trade |
J |
For rule 770 transfers |
M |
Transfer for portfolio margining purposes |
N |
Transfer of positions to a newly approved clearing firm |
P |
Fungible Transfers and Delivery Transfers (system generated, cannot be submitted by firms) |
T |
Transfer due to the merger of two or more clearing firms |
V |
Auto-transfer Offset (system generated, cannot be submitted by firms) |
W |
Transfer due to withdrawal of a clearing firm |
X |
For transferring new or offsetting Singapore Exchange executed positions between local firms |
Y |
Cross Exchange Transfer (OCC) |