Merc, the

Merc, the

Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange

The largest options and futures exchange in the world. Founded as a non-profit at the end of the nineteenth century, it demutualized in 2000 and went public in 2002. Approximately 70% of its business takes place electronically on CME Globex, the oldest electronic futures exchange in the world with well over one billion transactions since its introduction in 1992. In October 2008, in light of the credit crunch, the CME allied with the Citadel Investment Group LLC to create a transparent electronic trading platform for default credit swaps.