In April 2003, the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME) forged the CME/CBOT Common Clearing Link, under which clearing members of the two exchanges will be able to participate in a unified clearing guarantee fund, hold performance bond (margin) collateral at a single location, and utilize a single clearing interface. Given the complementary nature of the two exchanges' contract markets, intermarket spread trades across the two exchanges will benefit from potentially significant reductions in performance bond requirements.

The attached document discusses these benefits in detail.

 - Benefits for Equity Index Futures Spread Trades - 09.23.2003