The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) today announced that trading of its Full-sized (100 oz.) Gold Futures contract reached an all-time high yesterday, as volume surpassed 70,000 for the first time. The new record of 72,193 contracts tops the previous high mark of 69,432 contracts set on September 11, 2006.

On October 2, the contract’s market share of listed Gold futures traded in North America climbed above 60 percent for the first time, capturing 64 percent of all Gold futures volume traded that day. The contract maintained a 54 percent market share for the month of September. Also during that month, the CBOT Gold complex, which consists of Full-sized Gold futures and options and mini-sized (33 oz.) Gold futures contracts, reached an average daily volume of 52,464 contracts – nine times greater than September 2005.

The CBOT Metals Complex includes Full-sized (100 oz.) Gold futures and options contracts, mini-sized (33 oz.) Gold futures contracts, Full-sized (5,000 oz.) Silver futures and options contracts and mini-sized (1,000 oz.) Silver futures contracts.