Whois & Analysis for cmegroup.com

CME Group Inc. (Chicago Mercantile Exchange & Chicago Board of Trade) is an American financial market company operating the world's largest options and futures exchange.

It owns and operates large derivatives and futures exchanges in Chicago, New York City, and exchange facilities in London, using online trading platforms.

It also owns the Dow Jones stock and financial indexes, and CME Clearing Services, which provides settlement and clearing of exchange trades.

The exchange-traded derivative contracts include futures and options based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural commodities, rare and precious metals, weather, and real estate.

It has been described by The Economist as "The biggest financial exchange you have never heard of.".

Risk management is the identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks (defined in ISO 31000 as the effect of uncertainty on objectives) followed by coordinated and economical application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the probability and/or impact of unfortunate events or to maximize the realization of opportunities.

Risk management’s objective is to assure uncertainty does not deflect the endeavor from the business goals.

In finance, an option is a contract which gives the buyer (the owner or holder of the option) the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an underlying asset or instrument at a specific strike price on a specified date, depending on the form of the option.

The strike price may be set by reference to the spot price (market price) of the underlying security or commodity on the day an option is taken out, or it may be fixed at a discount or at a premium.

The seller has the corresponding obligation to fulfill the transaction – to sell or buy – if the buyer (owner) "exercises" the option.

An option that conveys to the owner the right to buy at a specific price is referred to as a call; an option that conveys the right of the owner to sell at a specific price is referred to as a put.

Both are commonly used in and by the old traded, but the call option is more frequently discussed.

In finance, a derivative is a contract that derives its value from the performance of an underlying entity.

This underlying entity can be an asset, index, or interest rate, and is often simply called the "underlying".

Derivatives can be used for a number of purposes, including insuring against price movements (hedging), increasing exposure to price movements for speculation or getting access to otherwise hard-to-trade assets or markets.

In finance, a futures contract (more colloquially, futures) is a standardized forward contract which can be easily traded between parties other than the two initial parties to the contract.

The parties initially agree to buy and sell an asset for a price agreed upon today (the forward price), with delivery and payment occurring at a future point, the delivery date.

Because it is a function of an underlying asset, a futures contract is a derivative product.