Cantor Fitzgerald Set to Take on CBOT

The first computer-based U.S. futures exchange will take on the world’s largest futures market today, becoming the latest challenger in a global shift to electronic networks from auction-based trading floors where traders shout orders. Cantor Fitzgerald will launch electronic trading in Treasury futures, a business now dominated by the Chicago Board of Trade. Pricing information from New York-based Cantor, the largest broker in the U.S. Treasury market, is already available on 100,000 screens used by traders in the cash market. The CBOT plans to improve its own electronic trading network and suggested it might sue Cantor and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over the Cantor venture. The Cantor exchange will announce its price structure today.