CBOT Corporate Membership

CBOT corporate membership allows member firms to receive preferential Exchange fee and performance bond rates on its proprietary trading of eligible CBOT products when such proprietary trading activity is conducted in accordance with CME Group’s Fee Policies.

A CBOT corporate member firm may be a CBOT Rule 106.J. Equity Member Firm (requires membership and shares) or a CBOT Rule 106.H. Trading Member Firm (requires a membership).

Hedge funds and commodity pools may be CBOT Rule 106.S. Family of Funds Equity Member Firms (requires membership and shares) or CBOT Rule 106.S. Family of Funds Trading Member Firms (requires membership).

Eligibility and Requirements:

CBOT Rule 106.J. Equity Membership

Financial institutions, futures commission merchants, foreign brokers, broker-dealers, commodity trading advisors, introducing brokers, commercial entities, proprietary trading firms, market makers, cash grain firms and other firms which have a business purpose deemed appropriate by CBOT are eligible for CBOT Rule 106.J. equity member firm status. Hedge funds and commodity pools are not eligible for CBOT Rule 106.J. equity membership.
The member firm is required to own or have assigned to it either a B-1/Full membership and 6,000 shares of CME Group or a B-2/Associate membership and 1,750 shares of CME Group. If the member firm is also a CME clearing or Rule 106.J. equity member firm or a NYMEX clearing or Rule 106.J. member firm, it must own or assign 9,000 shares. If the CBOT Rule 106.J. equity member firm has a 1,750 share requirement, the combined share requirement will be 7,750. If the member firm is also a CME clearing or Rule 106.J. equity member firm and NYMEX clearing or Rule 106.J. member firm, it must own or assign 12,000 shares. If the CBOT Rule 106.J. equity member firm has a 1,750 share requirement, the combined share requirement will be 10,750.. The member firm is eligible for preferential Exchange rates on products within the division of membership owned or assigned. The membership and shares may be owned by the member firm or owned by a member firm affiliate, a principal or employee of the member firm or a parent company of the member firm with an acceptable proprietary interest in the member firm and assigned for the member firm’s privileges.
The membership may be held by the member firm or a principal or employee of the member firm. The principal or employee must be approved for CBOT individual membership.
The member firm is eligible for preferential Exchange fee rates for its proprietary trading of products (open auction and electronic) within the division of membership owned or assigned when such trading activity is conducted in accordance with CME Group Fee Policies. The trading activity of parent companies, affiliates, subsidiaries or customers of the member firm are not eligible for preferential Exchange fee rates. The trading activity of parent companies, affiliates and subsidiaries of the member firm may be eligible for preferential Exchange fee and performance bond rates as CBOT Rule 106.I. affiliate member firms.
CBOT Rule 106.I. affiliate corporate membership may be obtained by an affiliate of CBOT Rule 106.J. equity member firm. The affiliate may qualify as either a CBOT Rule 106.I. affiliate equity member firm (requires an additional membership and shares) or as a CBOT Rule 106.I. affiliate trading member firm (requires an additional membership).
The CBOT Rule 106.J. equity member firm may also qualify an unlimited number of affiliates if it qualifies as a CBOT membership umbrella firm. A CBOT Rule 106.J. equity member firm may qualify as a CBOT membership umbrella firm if it owns 4 B-1/Full memberships, 2 B-2/Associate memberships and 8,000 shares of CME Group. This includes the memberships and shares required for the member firm’s equity member firm privileges.

CBOT Rule 106.H. Trading Membership

Financial institutions, futures commission merchants, foreign brokers, broker-dealers, commodity trading advisors, introducing brokers, commercial entities, proprietary trading firms, market makers, cash grain firms and other firms which have a business purpose deemed appropriate by CBOT are eligible for CBOT Rule 106.H. trading member firm status. Hedge funds and commodity pools are not eligible for CBOT Rule 106.H. trading membership.
The member firm is required to own or have assigned to it either a B-1/Full, B-2/Associate, B-4/IDEM or B-5/COM membership. Shares of CME Group are not required. The member firm is eligible for preferential Exchange rates on products within the division of membership owned or assigned. The membership may be owned by the member firm or owned by a member firm affiliate, or a principal or employee of the member firm and assigned for the member firm’s privileges.
The membership owned or assigned may be held by the member firm or a principal or employee of the member firm. The principal or employee must be approved for CBOT individual membership.
The member firm is eligible for preferential Exchange fee rates for its proprietary trading of products (open auction and electronic) within the division of membership owned or assigned when such trading activity is conducted in accordance with CME Group Fee Policies. The trading activity of parent companies, affiliates, subsidiaries or customers of the member firm are not eligible for preferential Exchange fee rates. However, the trading activity of a parent company, affiliate or subsidiary of the member firm may be eligible for preferential Exchange fee and performance bond rates as CBOT Rule 106.I. affiliate trading member firm (requires an additional membership).

CBOT Rule 106.S. Family of Funds Equity Member Firm

Hedge Funds, commodity pools or fund management companies are eligible for CBOT Rule 106.S. family of funds equity member firm status. The member firm may qualify up to 6 hedge funds or commodity pools for preferential Exchange fee rates where the member firm exercises trading control over, is under common trading control with or wholly owns such entities. Managed accounts are not eligible for preferential Exchange fee rates.
The member firm is required to own or have assigned to it four B-1/Full memberships, two B-2/Associate memberships and 8,000 shares of CME Group. If the member firm is also a CME clearing or corporate equity member or a NYMEX clearing or corporate member, it must own or assign 12,000 shares. If the member firm is also a CME clearing or corporate equity member and NYMEX clearing or corporate member, it must own or assign 16,000 shares. The memberships and shares may be owned by the member firm or owned by a qualified fund, or a principal or employee of the member firm and assigned for the member firm’s privileges.
The membership may be held by the member firm or a principal or employee of the member firm. The principal or employee must be approved for CBOT Individual Membership.
The member firm and its qualified funds are eligible for preferential Exchange fee rates for their proprietary trading of CBOT products (open auction and electronic) when such trading activity is conducted in accordance with CME Group Fee Policies. The trading activity of the investment manager, investors, parent companies, affiliates, subsidiaries or customers are not eligible for preferential Exchange fee rates.

CBOT Rule 106.S. Family of Funds Trading Member Firm

Hedge Funds, commodity pools or fund management companies are eligible for CBOT Rule 106.S. family of funds equity member firm status. The member firm may qualify up to 3 hedge funds or commodity pools for preferential Exchange fee rates where the member firm exercises trading control over, is under common trading control with or wholly owns such entities. Managed accounts are not eligible for preferential Exchange fee rates.
The member firm is required to own or have assigned to it two B-1/Full memberships and one B-2/Associate membership. Shares of CME Group are not required. The memberships may be owned by the member firm or owned by a qualified fund, or a principal or employee of the member firm and assigned for the member firm’s privileges.
The membership may be held by the member firm or a principal or employee of the member firm. The principal or employee must be approved for CBOT Individual Membership.
The member firm and its qualified funds are eligible for preferential Exchange fee rates for their proprietary trading of CBOT products (open auction and electronic) when such trading activity is conducted in accordance with CME Group Fee Policies. The trading activity of the investment manager, investors, parent companies, affiliates, subsidiaries or customers are not eligible for preferential Exchange fee rates.

Links for Additional Information:

CME Group’s Fee Policy Bulletin for Member Firm Accounts
CBOT Fee Schedule
CBOT Membership Prices

Process for CBOT Corporate Membership:

For non-Hedge Fund applicants, the Application for Corporate Membership – Corporate Information, the appropriate Agreement for CBOT corporate membership should be completed. For Hedge Fund applicants, the Application for Corporate Membership – Hedge Fund – Corporate Information and the appropriate Agreement for CBOT Rule 106.S. Family of Funds membership should be completed. The Applications and all required documents should be submitted to CME Group’s Audit Department.

The Audit Department is responsible for the review and approval of all corporate member firm applicants. The application process takes approximately four to six weeks from the time all required documents are submitted.

If the member firm elects to have individuals placed on memberships which are owned or assigned to member firm, those individuals must apply for individual CBOT membership status unless they are current members of CBOT. Refer to the CBOT individual membership application process.