Recognizing a growing need for investors to be able to effectively manage risks on their stock market investments, CME developed the CME S&P 500^® futures, the first successful stock-index futures contract. Based on the Standard & Poor’s 500^® (S&P 500) Index, which is widely followed as the key benchmark for large capitalization U.S. stocks, this innovative product sparked a new asset class of futures and helped establish CME as the world leader in stock-index futures.

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Benefits

• Fast, efficient exposure to 500 large-cap U.S. companies actively traded on the NYSE, the American Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Stock Market – all using a single contract
• Ability to perform a range of strategies, such as hedging portfolios against adverse market changes or gaining broad market exposure
• Potentially lower trading costs versus trading a basket of futures or Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs)
• Open, fair and transparent markets
• One of the most dominant markets for trading equity futures products, with a 92 percent market share of all U.S.-traded stock-index futures
• Guarantee of counterparty credit and central clearing by CME Clearing

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