Futures Trading – First Trade

In Financial Futures | Grain Futures
by Michael Wayne at 9:42 am on February 14, 2011 - [edit]

We are asked quite a bit about where futures contracts are traded.  Rather than only coming up with a bulleted list of exchanges, we thought a good place to start would be to give you a quick historical context.

Dating back to the ancient Greeks, a philosopher named Thales realized he could put to use his knowledge of mathematics and forecasting when considering the fall olive harvest.  He drew up an agreement with the olive press owners with which he would give his money to them in exchange for using them, hedging on the price of the autumn harvest.  It turned out that the presses were high in demand in the fall due to a bumper crop.  He sold his future use of his contracts for his benefit.  The futures contract was born.

Fast Futures Knowledge about the history of Futures Trading

Here are some brief tidbits on the history of futures trading:

• First regulated exchange was organized in 18th century Japan – the Domiji Rice Exchange
• The Chicago Board of Trade was formed in 1848
• The first forward contract was written in March of 1851.
• United States and Canadian exchanges include:
  • Montreal Exchange
  • ICE Futures Canada
  • CBOE Futures Exchange
  • Chicago Mercantile Exchange
  • Chicago Board of Trade
  • Chicago Climate Exchange
  • ELX Futures
  • ICE Futures U.S.
  • Kansas City Board of Trade
  • Minneapolis Grain Exchange
  • Nadex
  • NASDAQ OMX Futures Exchange
  • New York Mercantile Exchange
  • NYSE Liffe US
  • OneChicago