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Minneapolis
Grain Exchange Announces Addition of Infinium Capital Management
as Market Maker in National Corn Index and Hard Winter Wheat Index
Options - August 26, 2003
MINNEAPOLIS & CHICAGO — The Minneapolis Grain Exchange
(MGEX) announced today it has in place an agreement with Infinium
Capital Management (ICM), a proprietary capital management firm
based in Chicago, to provide market liquidity in National Corn Index
(NCI) and Hard Winter Wheat Index (HWI) options traded on MGEXpress®,
the exchange’s electronic trading platform. The agreement
is effective immediately.
Market Maker programs are commonly used by futures exchanges to
provide a baseline of liquidity in newly listed products, thus offering
interested commercial and speculative audiences the assurance of
market entry and exit at a reasonable bid/ask spread. Logistics
of trading NCI and HWI options are not altered because of the existence
of a Market Maker. MGEX backs the financial integrity of the
market through the margining process, as is always the case.
"We are very excited about our new relationship with MGEX.
Our team has 25 years of experience in the Chicago agriculture markets,
and we have spent the last 3 years building out our software infrastructure
in anticipation of the future shift to electronic trading,”
said Chuck Whitman, president of Infinium Capital Management in
Chicago. Whitman added, “This relationship is a perfect fit
between MGEX's need for skilled market makers and our capabilities.
This arrangement helps us to achieve our growth projections, especially
on the electronic side of our business.”
MGEX President and CEO Kent Horsager said, “We’re very
pleased to have Infinium add their trading expertise to the NCI
and HWI options markets. NCI and HWI futures and options are
proving to be extremely effective hedging instruments; additionally,
the ease and efficiency of settlement and execution provided by
the combination of financial settlement and electronic trading make
them very attractive to speculative audiences.”
NCI and HWI futures are financially settled meaning the ultimate
offset of outstanding positions is through financial settlement
as opposed to physical delivery. Open positions held at the
end of each trading month are offset against the three-day average
of the National Corn Index or Hard Winter Wheat Index, calculated
daily by Data Transmission Network. The NCI and HWI are averages
of country elevator bids and therefore are reflective of country-origin
corn and hard winter wheat.
MGEXpress Trading Hours for NCI and HWI Futures and Options:
Morning session: 8:30 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. (Central Time)
Afternoon session: 2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. (Central Time)
MGEX, established in 1881, is the only market for hard red spring
wheat, National Corn Index (NCI), National Soybean Index (NSI) and
Hard Winter Wheat Index (HWI) futures and options. For more
information about MGEX, visit www.mgex.com.
Infinium Capital Management is a proprietary capital management
firm based in Chicago, Illinois. ICM is affiliated with Hanley
Group, LP. ICM and Hanley Group, LP trades derivatives and
equities in both electronic and open outcry markets. Strategies
are traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), Chicago Board
of Trade (CBOT), Chicago Board of Options Exchange (CBOE), Minneapolis
Grain Exchange (MGX), Eurex and LIFFE.
Minneapolis Grain Exchange Contact: Teri Huffaker: 612-321-7140
Infinium Capital Management Contact: Bruce Werner: 312-601-7800
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