Electronic trading at the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange begins Dec. 20, unless there is a refusal by the Manitoba Securities Commission.
The WCE, Canada’s only agricultural futures and options exchange, has signed a contract with the Chicago Board of Trade to use its electronic trading platform and distribute its information by the CBOT Quote Vendor Network. The WCE’s shareholders approved the switch to electronic trading.
Dec. 17 will be the last day for open outcry trading, the type performed by people in bright, multicoloured jackets gesticulating with order papers.
The exchange will continue to exist and be based in Winnipeg, but its trading will be done on-line through the CBOT system.
The WCE is the first agricultural futures and options exchange in North American to go all-electronic. The CBOT uses electronic trading as a complement to its open outcry system and the Kansas City and Minneapolis exchanges have announced they are moving to a partially electronically traded system.
