Globex Learning Center (GLC) helps CME members and prospective traders practice electronic trading in real time and with real prices but without a financial commitment. It also helps those who have begun to trade electronically enhance their capabilities with a full range of additional e-trading and risk management resources.

Developed in 2001, FFastFill was the first ISV in the industry to provide training software that enabled users to trade the derivatives markets without any cash risk. It has been used to attract new entrants to electronic trading, to smooth the transition from phones and floor trading to screens, and to assess trader competencies.

In the Global Learning Center, participants accessing the FFastFill application will not only trade with real-time market data and news, but they will also experience the same market response to their order as they would in the actual trading environment. Participants can also choose to continue their training exercise at home by making arrangements with FFastFill. GLC users of the FFastFill program will also be able to simulate trading on eCBOT, the electronic platform of the Chicago Board of Trade.

“The transition from open outcry to electronic trading can be very intimidating for someone who has successfully made a livelihood with the more traditional approach,” said FFastFill Executive Chairman Keith Todd. “We applaud CME for devoting such significant resources to a state-of-the-art learning center that takes the mystery out of the transition and provides the opportunity for mastering a whole new environment. We also observe that e-trading at both CME and CBOT is already attracting a new breed of traders to these markets, just as this transition did in Europe. We believe that FFastFill’s robust trading and risk management program at the GLC will be an important contributor to the success of these individuals going forward.”