Chicago Board of Trade

41°52′40″N 87°37′56″W / 41.877821°N 87.632285°W / 41.877821; -87.632285

The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), is an American futures and options exchange that was founded in 1848. On July 12, 2007, the CBOT merged with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to form CME Group. CBOT and three other exchanges (CME, NYMEX, and COMEX) now operate as designated contract markets (DCM) of the CME Group.

The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), established on April 3, 1848, is one of the world's oldest futures and options exchanges. It was created as a centralized venue where buyers and sellers could meet to negotiate and formalize forward contracts. The idea originated from a conversation between Thomas Richmond and W. L. Whiting, who discussed the potential benefits of forming a board of trade. Their exchange led to a March 13 meeting of merchants and businessmen who supported the initiative, resulting in a resolution to create the institution and draft a constitution. A committee was then formed to develop bylaws, which were officially adopted by 82 charter members on the first Monday of April. This development emerged from broader concerns among U.S. merchants about ensuring the availability of reliable markets for commodity exchange. To address these challenges, they had turned to forward contracts, though credit risk remained a persistent issue – one that the CBOT was specifically designed to help manage.

In 1864, the CBOT listed the first standardized "exchange traded" forward contracts, which were called futures contracts. In 1919, the Chicago Butter and Egg Board, a spin-off of the CBOT, was reorganized to enable member traders to allow future trading, and its name was changed to Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). The Board's restrictions on trading after hours on any prices other than those at the Board's close gave rise to a 1917 legal challenge, the Chicago Board of Trade v. United States. The U.S. Supreme Court held that language of the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890– which outlawed "every contract ... in restraint of trade" – should not be taken literally, but rather should be interpreted under a "rule of reason".

On October 19, 2005, the initial public offering of 3,191,489 CBOT shares was priced at $54.00 a share. On its first day of trading the stock closed up 49% at $80.50 on the NYSE.

In 2007, the CBOT and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange merged to form the CME Group.

Since 1930, the Chicago Board of Trade has been operating out of 141 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago. The building was designed by Holabird & Root and is 605 feet (184m) tall, the tallest in Chicago until the Richard J. Daley Center superseded it in 1965. The Art Deco building incorporates sculptural work by Alvin Meyer and is capped by a 31-foot-high (9.5 m) statue of the Roman goddess Ceres in reference to the exchange's role in trading grain. It has been claimed that the statue was left faceless because its sculptor, John Storrs, thought that no one would ever be able to see the face on top of a forty-five-floor skyscraper. However, it may be that the smooth surface of the aluminium statue is an element of the streamlined look of Art Deco.

In 1977, the CBOT building was designated a Chicago Landmark and a National Historic Landmark the following year. It is now one of many skyscrapers in the city's Loop commercial district.