Being prepared is essential for a successful trading experience. There are a variety of resources available from CME, your broker, and other venues that can help you achieve your trading goals.

Resources
Even before you choose a broker or decide on an order entry method (either by phone or through a front-end application), it is a good idea to familiarize yourself with the markets. Watching bids and offers through a quote display can help you develop a feel for how a product trades. Product quotes, in real-time, delayed, or at end-of-day, are available through a variety of sources, including  CME® E-quotes(TM).

Through CME E-quotes, customers can view real-time streaming quotes for all CME Globex® and open-outcry markets. They can also use the news and charting capabilities to enhance their trading activities. For Globex products, top-of-book and market depth information are easily accessible. CME also provides free delayed futures quotes, as well as price, volume and "time and sales" information through the CME Web site. Traders may also obtain quotes or historical price data from quote vendors via the Internet or CD-ROM, or through their front-end trading applications.

In addition to market data, it is always a good idea to have a contract's specifications and product calendar readily available.

Below are links providing essential CME Globex contract and data information:

Contract Specifications
Product Calendar
E-quotes Real-time Data
Delayed Quotes
Historical Data
Charts
Time and Sales
Price and Volume

Educate Yourself
The more you learn about the markets, the more informed your trading decisions will be. If you would like to learn more about trading,  CME's Education Center offers classes on trading futures as well as trading electronically. Each Product section of the CME Web site also provides a number of reports and papers that may help you in researching a specific contract.

Technical Help
Nearly all Futures Commission Merchants (FCM), Introducing Brokers (IB) and Independent Software Vendors (ISV) have their own technical help line. Keep the numbers handy for reference.