Chicago's two big futures exchanges continued to fend off challenges from European competitors in September, monthly volume figures showed on Friday.
Derivatives trading at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange reached a record high and monthly volume at the Chicago Board of Trade was just short of a record.
Among the competing exchanges, London's Liffe had more success in September, with volume in Eurodollar futures more than doubling from August.
Monthly turnover on Eurex US, which is battling the CBOT in US Treasury futures, slipped about 15 percent, but continues to be helped by trading incentives implemented in July.
September volume at CBOT, the No 2 US futures mart, was 55.0 million contracts, close to May's record 55.1 million and up 34 percent from a year ago.
CME's average daily turnover for the month was almost 3.6 million contracts, up from 2.92 million averaged in August and up about 30 percent from a year ago.
Total September volume was 75.2 million contracts, surpassing the previous high of 69.4 million from June.
Volume figures exclude CME's total return asset contracts, or TRAKRS, which generate lower per-trade revenues for the exchange.
About 61 percent of CME's volume traded on its Globex electronic platform, compared with 62 percent in August. Average daily volume on Globex was almost double the year-ago level.
Activity in Eurodollar is shifting increasingly to the screens and to hand-held computers operated from the trading floor.
Turnover in Eurodollars was 32.4 million contracts compared with 24.8 million in August and 67 percent of Eurodollar futures changed hands on Globex, a new high.
CME Eurodollars are the world's busiest futures contract, holding above Euro bund futures on Eurex AG in Frankfurt, which traded about 25 million contracts in September.
CME's combined Eurodollar futures and options volume reached an annual record on September 22.
Eurodollar futures at London's Liffe exchange had their most active month since being launched in March, with some 603,221 contracts changing hands, more than double the August level. Volume remained less than two percent of the CME's.
CME shares reached a record high on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday for the second straight day. The stock is trading at $162.72, up $1.42 or 0.88 percent.