Eurex US is reinstating transaction fees for US treasury futures and options traded on its Chicago-based exchange after dropping them in July in an effort to boost volumes.
In July, Eurex US introduced a fee holiday for US treasury futures for all market participants until the end of the year. The move was in response to fee cuts implemented by rival futures exchange Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT).
Eurex US says it will set transaction fees for US treasury futures and options at five cents per side from 1 January 2005. Prior to the fee waiver in July Eurex US fees were set at between 10 and 25 cents.
All trades executed in the order book are eligible for the five cent per side fee. Over-the-counter (OTC) trades will be subject to a surcharge of 45 cents per side.
Satish Nandapurkar, CEO of Eurex US, says: "After consulting with our customers, we have restructured our fee model to best reflect their request for simple, straightforward pricing."
Volume on the Eurex US exchange reached a record 1.15 million contracts in November, compared with 59 million contracts for all products at the CBOT.
The Frankfurt-based exchange recently received regulatory approval to roll out phase one of its transatlantic clearing link which will enable US traders dealing on Eurex Deutschland to clear transactions through Chicago-based Clearing Corporation. Phase two of the project - which is still pending approval - will enable Eurex Clearing members to clear USD and EUR benchmark products traded at Eurex US, and use one common collateral pool to portfolio-margin European and US products.