CBOT

What is CBOT?

The Chicago Board of Trade, otherwise known as CBOT, is the oldest futures exchange in the US. Established in 1848, it started out trading agricultural commodities such as wheat and corn, and became a site for grain brokers to do their buying and selling in one central place.

Where have you heard about CBOT?

If you’ve ever been to Chicago, you may well have taken photos of the towering art deco CBOT skyscraper, one of the city’s landmark buildings. It has also appeared in Hollywood movies such as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, The Untouchables and Batman Begins.

What you need to know about CBOT...

For much of its past, deals were done via an open auction market, where traders met in one of the many octagonal trading pits and used hand signals to execute trades. In recent years, however, CBOT has introduced electronic trading to keep up with modern demand.

Today, CBOT offers options and futures contracts on a wide range of products including gold, silver and US Treasury bonds.

In 2007, CBOT merged with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange  to form the CME Group, which collectively handles trades in financial products, commodities and alternative futures products.