NEW YORK, Oct. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ICE Futures U.S., the leading soft commodity exchange and a subsidiary of IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE: ICE), today announced that it will begin offering foreign exchange futures electronically on the ICE trading platform on November 9, 2007.
Listing of the foreign exchange futures contracts will occur in phases. In the initial phase, the following futures contracts will be offered electronically 22 hours a day on the ICE platform:
ICE Futures U.S. ContractContract SizeSymbol
British pound/Japanese yen125,000 British poundsSY
British pound/Swiss franc125,000 British poundsSS
British pound/US dollar62,500 British poundsMP
Euro/British pound100,000 eurosGB
Euro/Japanese yen100,000 eurosEJ
Euro/Swiss franc100,000 eurosRZ
Euro/US dollar100,000 eurosEO
Swiss franc/Japanese yen200,000 Swiss francsZY
US dollar/Japanese yen100,000 US dollarsSN
US dollar/Swiss franc100,000 US dollarsMF
These foreign exchange contracts will begin electronic trading on the ICE platform at 8:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, November 8 for trade date November 9. Electronic trading hours for currency futures are from 8:00 p.m. ET through 6:00 p.m. ET each trading day. These futures contracts also trade in the exchange's floor-based markets in New York and Dublin, which operate from 2:00 a.m. ET through 3:00 p.m. ET. The US Dollar Index(R) futures contract (DX), a leading benchmark for the performance of the U.S. dollar against a basket of currencies, began trading electronically in June. The electronic launch of additional currency contracts will be announced at a later date.
The products will be available in a test environment beginning Thursday, October 11, to allow independent software vendors (ISVs), market data vendors, brokers, algorithmic traders and other registered market participants time to complete system connectivity and functionality testing.
"We're pleased to expand our unique foreign exchange offering through the distribution and accessibility of the ICE platform," said Tom Farley, ICE Futures U.S. President and Chief Operating Officer. "This is a first step toward unlocking the potential in our products and in serving our participants in the large and growing foreign exchange market."
ICE Futures U.S. successfully introduced side-by-side trading of its soft commodity contracts on February 2, 2007. Contracts offered include futures based on cocoa, coffee, cotton, orange juice and sugar. Today, approximately 80% of the exchange's soft commodity futures contracts are traded electronically on the ICE platform.
About IntercontinentalExchange
IntercontinentalExchange(R) (NYSE: ICE) operates global commodity and financial products marketplaces, including the world's leading electronic energy markets and soft commodity exchange. ICE's diverse futures and over-the-counter (OTC) markets offer contracts based on crude oil and refined products, natural gas, power and emissions, as well as agricultural commodities including canola, cocoa, coffee, cotton, ethanol, orange juice, wood pulp and sugar, in addition to foreign currency and equity index futures and options. ICE(R) conducts its energy futures markets through ICE Futures Europe(SM), its London-based futures exchange, which offers the world's leading oil benchmarks and trades nearly half of the world's global crude futures in its markets. ICE conducts its soft commodity, foreign exchange and equity index markets through its U.S. futures exchange, ICE Futures U.S.(SM), which provides global futures and options markets, as well as clearing services through ICE Clear U.S.(SM) In August 2007, ICE acquired the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange Inc., the leading agricultural futures exchange in Canada.
ICE's state-of-the-art electronic trading platform brings market access and transparency to participants in more than 50 countries. ICE was added to the Russell 1000(R) Index in June 2006 and the S&P 500 Index in September 2007. Headquartered in Atlanta, ICE also has offices in Calgary, Chicago, Dublin, Houston, London, New York, Singapore and Winnipeg. For more information, please visit www.theice.com.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 - Statements in this press release regarding IntercontinentalExchange's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see ICE's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors in ICE's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006, and the Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31 and June 30, 2007, each as filed with the SEC on February 26, 2007, May 4, 2007 and July 27, 2007, respectively.
SOURCE ICE Futures U.S.
-0- 10/10/2007
/CONTACT: Media, Ellen G. Resnick, Crystal Clear Communications, +1-773-929-9292 (office), +1-312-399-9295 (cell), for ICE Futures U.S.; Investors, Kelly Loeffler, VP, Investor Relations & Corp. Communications, +1-770-857-4726, kelly.loeffler@theice.com, or Sarah Stashak, Director, Investor & Public Relations, +1-770-857-0340, sarah.stashak@theice.com, both of IntercontinentalExchange/
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/Web site: http://www.theice.com/
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