ICE Futures U.S. Announces June 6 Launch of 10 New FX Futures Contracts; Adds FX Futures to Member Firm Fee Program

IntercontinentalExchange (NYSE: ICE), a leading operator of global regulated futures exchanges, clearing houses and over-the-counter (OTC) markets, today announced the launch of 10 new foreign exchange futures contracts on ICE Futures U.S. The currency pair contracts feature new contract sizes and will be available for the trade date of Monday, June 6, 2011. With the products announced today, ICE will offer more than 60 FX futures contracts, including the industry benchmark ICE U.S. Dollar Index.

The new contracts listed are:

“FX traders in the institutional, retail, bank and corporate segments have expressed strong interest in trading additional futures pairs alongside the benchmark ICE U.S. Dollar Index futures contract,” said Ray McKenzie, vice president, ICE Futures U.S. “With the addition of these 10 currency pairs at ICE Futures U.S., market participants now have the choice of another regulated futures exchange venue for trading currency futures in popular contract sizes.”

The contracts will be listed exclusively on the ICE platform, which features sub-millisecond execution speeds. The contracts also are available for exchange-for-physical (EFP) transactions and block trading. There are no EFP surcharges beyond the normal Exchange and clearing fees.

The contracts will offer capital efficient margining, including spread margining with the ICE U.S. Dollar Index and other currency pairs, as well as inter-exchange spread credit. ICE also has expanded the Exchange Member Firm Fee Program for the U.S. Dollar Index to include all of its FX futures and options contracts, featuring a rate of $0.30 per side. Terms of the program and a program application are available at https://www.theice.com/publicdocs/futures_us/usdxapplication.pdf.