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Here is an interesting Article from the Chicago Tribune on falling seat
prices. What is interesting is not only the drop over the last year, but
also the fairly large drop recently. Evidently, the threat of electronic
trading/competition is the big concern. Perhaps it would be a good time to
invest in Omega stock, considering all the floor traders that might be
looking to trade via computer. :)
Chris Lober
Membership seat prices at Chicago's major exchanges are falling fast,
pressured by the threat of electronic trading and impending consolidation.
At the Chicago Board of Trade, a full membership sold Monday for $507,000,
down from a record $857,500 last year. Associate memberships, which confer
the right to trade financial but not agricultural products at the exchange,
sold for as little as $231,000, down from last year's record $575,000.
Prices are falling across Van Buren Street too, largely because Board of
Trade members can exercise the right to trade at the Chicago Board Options
Exchange. A CBOE membership sold Monday for as little as $440,000, down from
$750,000 March 11 -- a $100,000-per-month decline.
But even those drops can't match the depression at the Chicago Mercantile
Exchange. A full Merc membership last traded May 11 for $385,000, down from
1994's $925,000. The next sale could be lower: A Merc International Monetary
Market seat, which permits trading of financial contracts only, sold Friday
for $246,000. That's down from $305,000 on May 15, and far off its 1994 peak
of $850,000.
Humanitarian considerations aside, now would be a handy moment for a drought
in the Grain Belt to boost price volatility and an international crisis or
two to jazz up the interest-rate markets and perk up seat prices.
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