CBOT (Chicago Board of Trade)

Chicago Board of Trade, established in 1848, is a commodity exchange and a designated contract market that offers traditional commodity and other financial instruments to traders, subject to the exchange rules and regulations.

In 2005, CBOT transformed from a non-profit organization to a for-profit organization with an IPO on the NYSE, listed as CBOT Holdings Inc. (Ticker: BOT). In 2007, the exchange merged with Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to form the CME Group. Now CBOT, along with CME, NYMEX and COMEX, operates as a designated contract market (DCM) of the CME Group.

Although the exchange dealt with only agricultural commodities in the initial days of establishment, now it offers options and futures contract on precious metals, energy and even U.S. Treasury bonds. The exchange was an open auction market for decades; however, it has added electronic futures trading facility in recent years. Enormous market volume in commodity related contracts ranks CBOT as one of the top exchanges in commodity space.

CBOT and Gold

The CBOT originally traded only agricultural commodities, but it launched trading in silver futures in 1969, and in gold futures five years later. However, on July 12, 2007, the CBOT merged with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to form the CME Group. The established holding is now the parent of CME, CBOT and Nymex. The latter subsidiary merged in 1994 with Comex, which became the division responsible for metals trading. Hence, the link between the CBOT and gold is indirect – the former is owned by the CME Group which also operates Comex, i.e. the largest gold futures exchange in the world.

We encourage you to learn more about the gold market – not only how it is linked to the CBOT, but also how to successfully use gold as an investment and how to profitably trade it. Great way to start is to sign up for our gold newsletter today. It's free and if you don’t like it, you can easily unsubscribe.