VOLUME 20 - BULLETIN #127

TO:	ALL CLEARING MEMBERS
FROM:	BUSINESS SYSTEMS GROUP
DATE:	April 27, 2000
SUBJECT:	Modified Contra - Trade I.D. Match

In 1997, the Chicago Board of Trade began a pilot program to use a Trade ID (transaction identifier) in place of opposing firm for Agricultural futures trades. The pilot program was designed to improve the efficiency of getting orders out of the pit during busy trading days. As a reminder, outlined below are the processes involved with Modified Contra.

TRADE ENTRY

In OTIS, a screen is available (Selection 3A. Full Size Fields - Trade ID) to aid in entry of the alpha numeric Trade ID. This screen allows the entry of alpha/numeric data in the opposing firm field without the requirement to shift. The Trade ID may be any combination of 2 or 3 alpha/numeric characters but it may not be all alpha or all numeric.

MATCH PROCESSING

During the intra-day match process, Trade ID will replace opposite firm as a critical match field. It is very important that the opposite broker be entered correctly as the trades will be matched based on the criteria of member, Trade ID, price, and quantity. At the end of the day, unmatched trade records that have a Trade ID can be matched with a non-Trade ID record in the member-to-member match during the final 7:00 p.m. reconciliation. In addition, trades can match Trade ID to Trade ID at the final reconciliation. To prevent misclears, which can occur as broker is ignored in this match, it is important for exchange members to use unique transaction identifiers by pit (i.e. commodity). To identify these trades on the Daily Trade and Position Register, the Trade ID will be populated in the ENTR BKR field.

REPORTS

Unmatched Trade reports will have the Trade ID populated in the ENTR BKR field and the opposite firm field will be populated with the opposite brokers PCM. Preliminary trade listings will populate Trade ID in the opposite firm field. The Daily Trade and Position Register will populate the ENTR BKR field with the Trade ID.

OTIS TRADE DUPLICATION

OTIS duplication files will have the Trade ID populated in the opposing firm field (col. 42-44 for futures and col. 49-51 for options).

Volume 20- Bulletin # 127 Page 2

REGISTER DATA FILE

The Trade ID will be populated in the matched Opposite Broker of the Register Data file (col. 91-93).

Should you have any questions, please call or e-mail one of the following Business Systems Analysts: