Release: #4362-00
For Release: �������� February 14, 2000

Commission Approves Cantor Financial Futures Exchange
Block Trading Proposal

Washington -- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has approved rules proposed by the Cantor Financial Futures Exchange (Exchange) which will permit block trading in the Exchange's U.S. Treasury Bond and U.S. Treasury Ten-year Note futures products.

Block trading, which involves transactions negotiated off the trading floor, will be permitted to occur subject to various terms set forth in the rules of the Exchange. Those terms include but are not limited to: (i) a minimum transaction size of 100 contracts (representing $10 million in value); (ii)�transactions generally will have to be reported to the Exchange within ten minutes of execution and, after 90 days, within five minutes; (iii) the Exchange will be required to publish block trading information immediately upon receipt; and (iv) participation will be limited to sophisticated traders who would be "eligible participants" under Part 36 of the Commission's regulations.

The Exchange's block trading rules are the first proposal that the Commission has received since issuing its Advisory on Alternative Execution, or Block Trading, Procedures for the Futures Industry in June, 1999. That Advisory generally indicated the Commission's receptivity to reviewing block trading proposals since block trading is intended to provide greater efficiency and economy in the execution of large orders than otherwise may be achievable. The Commission stated that the decision whether to permit block trading and the manner in which to do so needed to be made on a market-by-market basis.

The Commission approved the Exchange's proposal as a one-year pilot program. This will provide the Commission with an opportunity to evaluate the operation and impact of Exchange block trading prior to permitting it on a permanent basis.