Listeds building

The over-the-counter market’s pace of development since the late 1980s has been astonishing, but a similar tale of growth, innovation and controversy can be told of the listed products markets. John Ferry looks at the major trends at the futures and options exchanges

In the 15 years that Risk has covered the world’s futures and options exchanges, they have left behind their roots in soft commodities and now make most of their money in financial derivatives. Volumes exploded in the early 1990s, and growth has been exponential ever since. In 1984, financials officially overtook commodities at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), one of the oldest futures exchanges, which prides itself on its history as the first major agricultural futures exchange, back in the