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On March 31, trade of New York Harbor ethanol futures began on the New York Mercantile Exchange Inc., a subsidiary of NYMEX Holdings Inc. On the first day 15 contracts were traded, according to Anu Ahluwalia, NYMEX director of corporate communications & media affairs.
NYMEX has Chicago and New York ethanol futures contracts, but this is the first physical futures contract, Ahluwalia said. “The Chicago and New York futures contracts launched last year,” she said. “There was a demand and need for more customers to have a physically sold contract as well. This was a natural extension to launch a physically delivered contract.”
The contract is available for trading on the CME Globex electronic trading platform and for clearing on NYMEX ClearPort. The trading unit is 42,000 gallons, with the minimum price fluctuation of $0.0001 per gallon. The contracts are listed for 36 consecutive months, beginning with the May 2008 contract. The last trading day will be the last business day of the month preceding the delivery month.
Margins began at $4,500 for clearing members, $4,950 for members, and $6,075 for customers. Before trading, intra-commodity spread margins were set at $400 for clearing members, $440 for members, and $540 for customers. Similarly, spot assessment margins were set at $3,000 for clearing members, $3,300 for members, and $4,050 for customers.
