Effective March 1, 2014, CME Market Data fees will apply to all new accounts using CME data for trading. For “non-professional” traders the fee is only $15 per month for all CME divisions. For “professional” traders the fee is $85 per CME division per month or $340 per month for the entire Exchange. “Professional” is defined by the CME to include all members, all CFTC and SEC registrants as well as a host of other individuals and all entities that were created for trading.
Existing accounts are grandfathered under the current “market data trading waiver”. The waiver eliminates market data fees for 2014. Traders that are grandfathered may migrate to another firm and maintain their grandfathered status. There are new charges for “direct market access” traders.
If this sounds confusing, you are correct. It is also a bureaucratic nightmare for FCMs that must get non-professional affidavits from each customer and keep track of which divisions of the CME that each trader is looking at.
