As the world starts to slowly reopen following the coronavirus pandemic, CME Group announced today in Chicago that it will be reopening its Eurodollar options trading pit on the 10th of August.
In the lead up to this date, CME Group will be reshuffling the pit in order for it to meet social distancing standards, the company said. Furthermore, it will put in place additional safety measures, however, the exchange operator has not elaborated on what these might be.
Although the Eurodollar options trading pit will open in August, the other open outcry trading pits will remain closed by the CME Group until the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois reach Phase 5 of their reopening plans, the US derivatives giant said in its statement.
“Additional Compliance requirements and procedures for accessing the trading floor will be forthcoming. As the Coronavirus crisis remains fluid, the company will continue to monitor the situation and communicate any changes as needed. All products, including Eurodollar options, will continue to trade on CME Globex,” CME Group said in the statement.
CME Group closed trading floor in March
Earlier this year, CME closed its trading floor in Chicago as of the close of business on Friday, the 13th of March 2020. The decision was made in line with medical advice, the company said at the time.
As Finance Magnates reported, people familiar with the matter said that while trading of the company’s futures products will go on electronically, the current situation hastens an existing industry trend of shifting trading from trading floors to computer screens.
COVID-19 cases continued to climb in the US
The announcement from CME comes as COVID-19 cases have jumped in 22 states within the United States, as protests and relaxing restrictions have lead to a spike in cases. At the time of publishing, there are 2,045,549 cases in the United States, according to Worldometer. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website states that there were 1,956,421 cases as of the 9th of June, 2020.
