CHICAGO (HedgeWorld.com)–The Options Clearing Corp. called a halt to the Chicago Board Options Exchange’s plan to list options of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc.
The CBOE’s announcement May 30 seemed to represent a prominent milestone in the ongoing transformation of derivatives exchanges from clubs to publicly listed corporations. CME Holdings is the parent company of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc., the largest futures exchange in the United States based on notional value, trading volume and open interest.
CBOE’s statement said it was pleased to become the first U.S. exchange to list stock options on another exchange. CME options were to begin trading June 2 for the March expiration cycle, with a position limit of 22,500 contracts.
But it didn’t happen or, at least, hasn’t happened yet. CBOE’s competitor, the International Securities Exchange, New York, protested the CME options to the Options Clearing Corp., which considers a stock eligible for an options listing only if it meets minimum standards in average daily volume, number of shares traded and other criteria.
The ISE and the OCC each declined to comment on the incident for this story.
A spokesman for the CBOE expressed confidence that “we will be listing the CME at some point in the future.” The spokesman, Gary Compton, confirmed Tuesday that “there was a miscalculation in terms of determining its specific eligibility.”