A Block Trade is a privately negotiated futures, options or combination transaction that is permitted to be executed apart from the public auction market. Participation in block trades is restricted to Eligible Contract Participants as that term is defined in the Commodity Exchange Act.

CBOT Rule 526 and CME Rule 526 ( "Block Trades" ) govern block trading in CBOT and CME products, respectively. Block trades are permitted in specified products and are subject to minimum transaction size requirements which vary according to the product, the type of transaction and the time of execution. Block trades may be executed at any time at a fair and reasonable price and are required to be reported by the seller to the Globex Control Center ( "GCC" ) at 312.456.2391 within five minutes of the execution time, except for Eurodollar, Housing and Weather futures and options and 3-month OIS futures which are subject to a 15-minute reporting requirement. Block trades executed when the GCC is closed must be reported no later than five minutes prior to the opening of the next electronic trading session for that product.

When reporting a block trade to the GCC, the following information will be required:

• Name and phone number of the clearing firm representative reporting the trade;
• Buyer’s clearing firm and seller’s clearing firm;
• Contract, contract month and contract year for futures;
• Contract, contract month, contract year, strike price and put or call designation for standard options, as well as the expiration date and exercise style for flex options;
• Quantity of the trade or, for spreads and combinations, the quantity of each leg of the trade;
• Price of the trade or, for spreads and combinations, the price of each leg of the trade; and
• Execution time of the trade (i.e., the time at which the trade was consummated).

For information on block trades in CBOT interest rate futures and options, please see CBOT Market Regulation Advisory Notice RA0801-1 (PDF). A CME Market Regulation Advisory Notice on CME block trades will be released in the near future. If you have any questions concerning block trades in CME or CBOT products, please contact the Market Regulation Department at 312.341.7970.

Benefits of Block Trades

• Convenience of privately negotiating a trade with a selected eligible counterparty
• Ability to execute a large transaction at a fair and reasonable single price
• Security of a trade cleared by CME Clearing
• Designed to meet institutional trading needs  

View Intra Day Block Trades

CME Clearing360 Trade Reporter- Get connected to an easier way to report Block Trades 

CME Group will add a new trade capture web-based user interface, and an updated application programming interface (API) that will provide a new and more efficient means of reporting privately-negotiated trades and submitting them to CME Clearing. Available through our CME EOS Trader Web-based front end, CME Clearing360 Trade Reporter lets qualified market participants save time and execute more efficient Block Trades with the safety you have come to trust from CME Group.

Clearing360 and Trade Reporter will:

• Price all the legs of the strategy
• Verify that the trade conforms with minimum quantity rules
• Eliminate the need for a phone call to the Globex Control Center (GCC)
• Submit the trade directly to CME Clearing
• Enable the trade automatically to be loaded to the two clearing firms, once the trade has either passed a credit check on both sides, or been explicitly accepted

Learn more about Clearing360 Trade Reporter

 
Pivot Instant Markets- A New Way to Electronically Trade CME Group Weather Blocks

CME Clearing360, CME Group's clearing service for privately negotiated OTC and block transactions, is now connected to Pivot Instant Markets- the premier product in the OTC derivatives community for real-time communication and management of quote data.

This partnership enables brokers to electronically submit CME Group Weather block trades directly to CME Clearing360, resulting in significant benefits to traders:

• Greater efficiency from straight-through processing of transactions
• Reduced costs due to reduction of administrative efforts
• Ability to manage increased trade volume
• Access to the full benefits and financial safeguards of CME Group's central counterparty clearing

Learn more about Pivot Instant Markets

The following table lists CME and CBOT products that are block trade eligible and includes the associated minimum quantity thresholds for each product.

CME and CBOT Block Trade Eligible Products 
For purposes of this table, Regular Trading Hours are defined as 7:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Chicago time, Monday- Friday on regular business days.

 *NOT applicable to E-mini equity indexes except the E-mini NASDAQ Composite Index or E-mini FX.