• Albania - Tirana Stock Exchange
  
  
• Argentina - Buenos Aires Futures Market
  Mercados de Futuros y Opciones S.A.
  MAT is a business Co. which registers and guarantees futures and options transactions.
  MAT neither trades nor participates in price making; these fuctions are operators' exclusivity since they represent supply and demand.
  
  
• Argentina - Buenos Aires Stock Exchange
  Visi? de Bolsar:
  Por el prestigio institucional, la exactitud y confiabilidad de su contenido y la seriedad del compromiso que asume ante los usuarios, Bolsar es un ineludible sitio de informaci? a tiempo real del mercado de capitales en la red, para consulta de inversores, operadores, empresarios, profesionales de las finanzas, analistas y otros participantes del mercado.
  
  
• Argentina - Rosario Futures Exchange
  Rosario Futures Exchange (ROFEX) founded in 1909 - as the "Mercado General de Productos Nacionales" (General Exchange of National Commodities) traded huge volumes of linen (1.3 Million Metric Tons in 1924) , corn (3.3 MMT in 1929) and wheat (3.7 MMT in 1924) during the first two decades, until governments not fond of free markets took power and inflation became a permanent fashion in the country. Between the late thirties and the end of the eighties, this exchange was most of the time intervened by government who used it as a regulatory agency and for official grain purchases.
  At the beginning of the nineties the government allowed the negotiation of grain futures contracts in US dollars.
  The latest and more active product is the Rosafe Soybean Index (RSI), a futures and options contract on soybeans, cash settled against the spot price at Rosario, where 75 % of the argentine soybeans crop is cash traded.
  In september 1998, Rofex added to its traditional open-cry pit a screen based trading system called e-ROFEX.
  
  
• Armenia - Armenian Stock Exchange
  Armenian Stock Exchange is member of The Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges (FEAS) and The International Association of Exchanges of the CIS countries (IAEx of CIS)
  
  
• Australia - Australian Stock Exchange Ltd
  The Australian Stock Exchange Limited (ASX) was formed in 1987 through the merging of the six independent stock exchanges which operated in the state capital cities.
  ASX was originally a mutual organisation of stockbrokers. In 1996 its members demutualised and became a listed company. The change of status took place on 13 October 1998, and the following day ASX shares were listed for trading on ASX's own market.
  ASX operates Australia's primary national stock exchange for equities, derivatives and fixed interest securities.
  The market capitalisation of domestic equities listed on the Australian Stock Exchange has grown from approximately AUD198.3bn in 1992 to AUD699.8bn at 30 June 2002. Over this same period, the volume of equities trades has risen by approximately 645%.
  The structure of the market has changed substantially. In the 1980s itt was dominated by mining and resources companies as well as manufacturing companies. While these sectors have continued to grow and are an important part of the Australian market, there has also been a significant growth in the financial and other services sectors which includes companies such as those involved in telecommunications.
  ASX has memoranda of understanding with the national exchanges in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Tokyo, Thailand and Singapore. Under the auspices of such MOUs, ASX is building closer relationships with exchanges in its region with a view to extending its network of market linkages.
  As at Feb 03 a total of 1420 companies were listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, of these, 1353 were domestic and 67 foreign listings.
  
  
• Australia - Stock Exchange of Newcastle Ltd
  The Stock Exchange of Newcastle Limited is Australia?s second official stock exchange approved under Corporations Law in Australia. The exchange has developed a unique set of Listing Rules to assist small, medium and regionally based business to list their securities on an approved Stock Exchange.
  
  
• Australia - Sydney Futures Exchange
  SFE and its subsidiary companies provide exchange-traded and over-the-counter (OTC) financial services to institutions throughout the Asia-Pacific region and globally.
  Fully electronic and with 24-hour trading capability, SFE offers the financial market community trading products for investment and risk management, disseminates real-time and historical trading market data and provides centralised clearing, settlement and depository services for both derivative and cash products.
  
  
• Austria - Vienna Stock Exchange (Wiener Borse)
  Wiener B?se is a modern customer- and market oriented financial service company that plays a pivotal role in the Austrian capital market. It is the only securities exchange and listing authority in Austria and offers, in addition to the traditional cash market (equity market, bond market), an innovative derivatives market (otob market) and warrants market. All trading on Wiener B?se is conducted through the fully electronically trading systems, Xetra? (cash market) and OMex? (derivatives, warrants). These systems guarantee the greatest possible transparency as well as fast and efficient execution of market transactions.
  
  
• Bahrain - Bahrain Stock Exchange
  In 1920 the first commercial bank opened its doors in Bahrain, in order to facilitate the business community at that time. By 1957, Bahrain had its first public shareholding company, the National Bank of Bahrain. However, it was not until the late 1970s and early 1980s that Bahrain realized there was a growing need for an organized stock market, due to the growth provided by the oil price boom in the region.
  As a result, the Government, in cooperation with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), prepared a feasibility study highlighting the importance of establishing an official stock market in Bahrain. So in 1987, Amiri Decree No. 4 was issued, establishing the Bahrain Stock Exchange (BSE), which officially commenced operations on 17th June 1989 with 29 companies listed on the Exchange.
  
  
• Bangladesh - Chittagong Stock Exchange
  Eligibility of a Member for Trading:
  - Becoming the member of CSE Clearing House;
  - Obtaining Dealership / Brokerage License from SEC;
  - Not otherwise barred by CSE or SEC.
  
  
• Bangladesh - Dhaka Stock Exchange
  The DSE was incorporated on 28 April 1954 as the East Pakistan Stock Exchange Association Limited.On 23 June 1962, it was renamed as the Dhaka Stock Exchange Limited. Formal trading began in 1956.
  LEGAL CONTROL
  The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) is registered as a Public Limited Company and its activities are regulated by its Articles of Association rules & regulations and bye-laws alongwith the Securities and Exchange Ordinance, 1969, Companies Act 1994 & Securities & Exchange Commission Act, 1993.
  MEMBERS
  Number of members at present is 195. Provision has been made to increase the number up to 500.
  
  
• Barbados - Securities Exchange of Barbados
  The Securities Exchange of Barbados was established on June 1, 1987 under Section 44 of the Securities Exchange Act 1982. The Exchange is a corporate body without share capital and is administered by a General Manager through a Board of Governors who establishes By-Laws and Rules to regulate the affairs and business of the Exchange. The Exchange has set standards and rules of conduct to which Members must adhere.
  Originally residual power was reversed to the Minister of Trade to make Regulations inter alia, respecting any matter necessary or advisable in effectively carrying out the purposes of the Securities Exchange Act. On February 15, 1996 that power was transferred to the Minister of Finance.
  
  
• Belgium - Euronext Brussels
  Corporate strategy
  Euronext is pursuing a strategy that combines organic growth with an active product policy, expansion of its client base, and external growth. Since its formation, it has expanded its product offering, particularly in the field of derivatives, and has increased the numbers of issuers listed on its markets, and investors active on its markets. It has also connected more members to its single cash trading platform, offering increased liquidity and lower transaction costs. The external growth strategy aims at the benefits for customers and shareholders, integrating the rather fragmented European capital market. This takes the form of an acquisition policy and the unification of the pools of liquidity by means of technical platforms and harmonized rules.
  
  
• Bermuda - Bermuda Stock Exchange
  The Bermuda Stock Exchange (BSX) was established in 1971, primarily as a domestic equities market. However as the Island?s international financial sector grew so too did the Exchange and in 1992 the company was restructured into a demutalised, for ?profit entity.
  Today, the BSX is the world?s largest offshore, fully electronic securities market offering a full range of listing and trading opportunities for international and domestic issuers of equity, debt, depository receipts, insurance securitization and derivative warrants.
  The Bermuda Stock Exchange?s significant growth over the last several years is due in large part to the company?s innovative and flexible approach. In addition to taking a leading role in what has become a world trend towards profitability and demutalisation, the Exchange has sought to create unique products and services for its niche offshore market.
  
  
• Bolivia - Bolivian Stock Exchange (Bolsa Boliviana de Valores)
  La Bolsa Boliviana de Valores (BBV) es una empresa privada, constituida como sociedad anonima, con fines de lucro, que opera desde 1989.
  Su principal objetivo es promover un mercado de valores regular, competitivo, equitativo y transparente, proporcionando infraestructura, sistemas y normas para canalizar eficientemente el ahorro de los inversionistas hacia empresas e instituciones privadas y estatales, que requieran de tales recursos para financiar proyectos productivos y de desarrollo.
  
  
• Bosnia - Sarajevo Stock Exchange (Sarajevska Berza)
  Sta je to berza?
  Berza je mjesto gdje se vrsi trgovina vrijednosnim papirima.
  Vrijednosni papir je prema Zakonu o vrijednosnih papirima (ZVP), (?Sluzbene novine Federacije BiH?, broj 39/98 i 36/99) ?isprava ili elektronicki zapis koji sadrzi prava koja se bez istih ne mogu ni ostvarivati ni prenositi?.
  
  
• Botwana - Botswana Stock Exchange
  Postal Address:
  Private Bag 00417, Gaborone, Botswana
  Physical Address:
  4th Floor
  Finance House
  Khama Crescent, Gaborone, Botswana
  
  
  Share trading in Sri Lanka dates back to 1896 when the Colombo Brokers Association commenced the share trading in limited liability companies which were involved in opening plantations in the country. The establishment of a formal stock exchange in 1985 and the incorporation of the Colombo Stock Exchange marked a milestone in the history of share trading in Sri Lanka.
  The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) is a company limited by guarantee, and established under the Companies Act No. 17 of 1982. The CSE took over the Stock Market in 1985 from the Colombo Share Brokers Association. It currently has a membership of 15 institutions, all of which are licensed to operate as stockbrokers.
  
  
• Swaziland - Swaziland Stock Exchange
  
  
• Sweden - OM Stockholm Stock Exchange
  On September 4, 2003, OM and the Finnish exchange operator HEX merged to form OMHEX, the largest securities market in Northern Europe and a leading provider of marketplace services and solutions for the financial and energy markets. OMHEX is made up of two divisions: OM Technology and HEX Integrated Markets.
  OM Technology is a world leading provider of solutions and services - outsourcing and transaction processing - based on pioneering and proven technology. Our promise is simple: we make securities transactions more efficient for the entire spectrum of front, middle and back office. Today, over 300 customers in 10 countries rely on OM's technology to run their marketplaces and secure their mission-critical systems.
  HEX Integrated Markets is the integrated Nordic and Baltic marketplace for securities, giving customers access to 80 percent of the Nordic securities market. HEX Integrated Markets includes Stockholmsb?sen, HEX Helsinki, HEX Tallinn and HEX Riga.
  
  
• Sweden - Stockholm Stock Exchange
  HEX Integrated Markets is northern Europe's largest securities market. Through its exchange operations within Stockholmsb?sen, HEX Helsinki, HEX Tallinn and HEX Riga it offers investors access to 80 percent of the Nordic equity market and 75 percent of the Baltic equity market. HEX Integrated Markets also operates CSD's in Finland, Estonia and Latvia.
  An integrated Nordic platform will be offered to market participants, based on OM Technology's platforms. This will generate an increased liquidity, harmonised markets, more efficient member access, broader service range and lower costs when connecting to Nordic markets.
  HEX Integrated Markets will provide the most liquid market for all securities traded on Stockholmsb?sen, HEX Helsinki, HEX Tallinn and HEX Riga. HEX Integrated Markets will also provide the best and most cost efficient processes available for trading and post-trading operations for customers.
  The other Nordic and Baltic exchanges and CSDs are invited for further integration. Possible further consolidation within the Nordic and Baltic markets will provide even better opportunities for reaching the vision and benefit customers and investors.
  HEX Integrated Markets has annual revenues of 1,820 MSEK (2002) and 400 employees in Finland, Sweden, Estonia and Latvia. Headquarters of HEX Integrated Markets is located in Helsinki, Finland.
  
  
• Switzerland - Swiss Exchange
  The SWX is one of most technologically advanced securities exchanges in the world. Underpinned by the strength of the Swiss financial marketplace, it pursues a solidly international strategy. In cross-border cooperation with its partners, the SWX Swiss Exchange provides first-class Exchange services in the interests of all involved. It boasts not only an extensive product range, but also a fully integrated electronic trading, clearing and settlement system which is still the only one of its kind in the world. With a single mouse-click, trading, payment, settlement and confirmation are completed in the space of two minutes. This fully integrated process is based on the electronic system run by SWX Swiss Exchange, Swiss Interbank Clearing - SIC and SIS Segaintersettle AG.
  The SWX Swiss Exchange brings together participants, issuers and investors in an efficient and transparent market. It is the home Exchange and key market for leading international companies. The prominence of both participants and listed companies ensures excellent liquidity. Thanks to its technological leadership, the SWX Swiss Exchange has distinguished itself as a customer-oriented Exchange services provider ? a strong basis for the trust of a growing number of participants. Over 100 participants trade on the SWX Swiss Exchange, including some of the most important global players in the financial markets.
  
  
• Taiwan - Taiwan Futures Exchange
  The government of the Republic of China initiated the plan of making Taiwan a regional operation center in the Asia Pacific region. In this regard, a comprehensive financial market would play an important role in achieving this goal. Acknowledging that a channel for risk management is essential to the efficiency of the domestic financial market and to the competitive advantages in the global markets, the Government implemented a futures market development plan in the year of 1992.
  After 5-year successive evolutions, the first futures exchange in Taiwan, Taiwan Futures Exchange (TAIFEX), was founded by the strenuous joint efforts of the Government and the private sectors. The existence of a derivatives market and the introduction to the products will enable market participants to become familiar with financial market in a faster and more sufficient way. Also the enterprises and the general investors are able to manage their funds and market risk more effectively through the interaction between the spot and futures market.
  
  
• Taiwan - Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporation
  
  
• Tanzania - Dar-es-Salaam Stock Exchange
  
  
• Thailand - Thailand Stock Exchange
  
  
• Tunisia - Tunis Stock Exchange
  
  
• Turkey - Istanbul Stock Exchange
  
  
• U.S.A. - American Stock Exchange
  The American Stock Exchange has been a pioneer in market innovation for more than a century and remains committed to developing successful new investment products and innovative services for companies and investors. For information on the Exchange today, click on Daily Statistics, Executive Biographies, and Board of Governors.
  As the nation's most diversified financial marketplace, the American Stock Exchange conducts trading through an advanced centralized specialist system and is committed to providing a superior marketplace for the investing public and its members. Details on how the Exchange works can be found in Market Structure and Trade Execution.
  
  
• U.S.A. - Arizona Stock Exchange
  
  
• U.S.A. - Boston Stock Exchange
  The BSE's roots go back to the 1830s when Bostonians were looking for new ways to invest the wealth they had earned through shipping, banking, and insurance. As New England's - and the nation's - industry grew, capital had to be raised to expand the region's businesses and fund larger enterprises.
  To meet this need, 13 business leaders founded the Boston Stock Exchange in 1834 as the third U.S. stock exchange, creating a meeting place for local stock brokers to trade their shares. Initially, only the stocks of local banks and insurance companies were traded on the new exchange. Soon mill, railroad, utility, and canal stocks were added. In 1878, AT&T was listed just two years after Alexander Graham Bell had invented the telephone in his Boston workshop. In fact, capital raised in Boston funded many of the factories, mines, and railroads that fueled the economic expansion of the United States in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
  Today, the BSE is an integral part of Boston's financial community, which is the third largest investment management center in the world, eclipsed only by New York and London. Boston, the birthplace of the mutual fund, is now arguably the "mutual fund capital" of the world with literally trillions of dollars invested in funds managed here.
  
  
• U.S.A. - Chicago Board Options Exchange
  
  
• U.S.A. - Chicago Mercantile Exchange
  Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (CME) is the largest futures exchange in the United States and the second largest exchange in the world for the trading of futures and options on futures. As a marketplace for global risk management, our exchange brings together buyers and sellers of derivatives products, which trade on our trading floors, on our GLOBEX electronic trading platform and through privately negotiated transactions. Futures and options provide a way to protect against ? and profit from ? price changes in financial instruments and physical commodities. In addition, we own our own clearing house and are able to guarantee, clear and settle every contract traded through our exchange. Founded as a not-for-profit corporation in 1898, we became the first publicly traded U.S. financial exchange in December 2002 when the Class A shares of our parent company, Chicago Mercantile Exchange Holdings Inc., began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CME.CME Holding is part of the Russell 1000? Index.
  CME has four major product areas: interest rates, stock indexes, foreign exchange and commodities. In 2002, a record 558.4 million contracts with an underlying value of $328.6 trillion changed hands at CME, representing the largest notional value traded on any futures exchange in the world. In addition, we move about $1.8 billion per day in settlement payments and manage $27.4 billion in collateral deposits.
  CME has the largest futures and options on futures open interest of any exchange in the world. Open interest is the number of outstanding contracts at the close of the trading day and a leading indicator of liquidity. Liquidity of markets is the ability of a market to quickly and efficiently absorb the execution of large purchases and sales. It is a key component to attracting customers and ensuring a market's success.
  
  
• U.S.A. - Chicago Stock Exchange
  The Chicago Stock Exchange provides a vital element of competition to the marketplace. Founded May 15, 1882, the CHX has risen to become one of the largest exchanges in the world.
  
  
• U.S.A. - Cincinnati Stock Exchange
  The Cincinnati Stock Exchange provides its members and their customers an efficient, highly regulated market for the trading of equity securities. The CSE is committed to utilizing our unique electronic trading floor and competing specialist system to ensure the best execution at the lowest possible cost.
  By being the first exchange to eliminate the need for a physical trading floor, the CSE was able to use technology to reduce costs to its member firms and ultimately their customers while maintaining an efficient auction market.
  
  
• U.S.A. - International Securities Exchange
  The International Securities Exchange, the world's largest equity options exchange, was founded on the principle that technology fosters and infuses new efficiencies and operational innovations into securities trading. After developing an innovative market structure that integrated auction market principles into an advanced screen-based trading system, ISE launched the first fully electronic US options exchange in May 2000. ISE continually enhances its trading systems to provide investors and the trading community with the most efficient, least expensive order executions possible.
  
  
• U.S.A. - Kansas City Board of Trade
  Kansas City Board of Trade is a place where buyers and sellers gather to trade commodities - commonly known as a commodity exchange. Specifically at the KCBT, futures and options contracts are traded on hard red winter wheat, the Value Line? Index of around 1,650 stocks, natural gas, and the ISDEX? Internet stock index.
  When the original members of the Kansas City Board of Trade met on the banks of the Missouri River to develop a more organized method of buying and selling grain they could not have foreseen the far-reaching impact of their vision.
  More than a century later, ten billion bushels of wheat would change hands on the exchange in one year, and grain producers and users around the globe would look to Kansas City for the fair price of hard red winter wheat, the primary ingredient in the world's bread.
  Over time, the exchange's leadership would extend into other markets. Indeed, it was at the Kansas City Board of Trade that stock index futures, hailed as the most innovative financial instrument of the 1980s, were born. And in the 1999, the exchange extended its leadership to the Internet with ISDEX? Internet stock index contracts.
  The Kansas City Board of Trade was formally chartered in 1876. Located on the northern border between Kansas and Missouri and the junction of two rivers, Kansas City is situated in one of the most productive wheat-growing regions of the world.
  Early trading at the exchange was primarily in cash grains. Today, grain elevators, exporters, millers and producers use the exchange to protect their cash positions by buying or selling futures and options. Stock market investors also utilize KCBT products. Nonetheless, cash grain trading is still the core business of many of KCBT's members.
  Throughout its development, the Kansas City Board of Trade has prided itself on its Midwestern heritage. Integrity and service are the cornerstones upon which the Board of Trade was founded, and they remain as important today as then.
  
  
• U.S.A. - Minneapolis Grain Exchange
  Since 1881 the Minneapolis Grain Exchange has facilitated price discovery in the volatile commodities markets, providing a valuable risk management service to producers and consumers around the world.
  Futures and options contracts in hard red spring wheat, Hard Winter Wheat Index (HWI), National Corn Index (NCI) and National Soybean Index (NSI) comprise the Exchange. The hard winter wheat, corn and soybean futures and options are financially settled against the spot Hard Winter Wheat Index, the National Corn Index and National Soybean Index, calculated by DTN.
  
  
• U.S.A. - Nasdaq Stock Market
  Since its debut in 1971 as the world's first electronic stock market, The NASDAQ Stock Market? has been at the forefront of innovation, using technology to bring millions of investors together with the world's leading companies.
  Today, NASDAQ? is the world's largest electronic stock market, listing approximately 3,600 of the world's most innovative companies. It is home to category-defining companies that are leaders across all areas of business including technology, retail, communications, financial services, media and biotechnology industries. NASDAQ's competitive market structure, combined with an extensive portfolio of products and services, attracts today's largest and fastest growing companies. In fact, more companies now list on NASDAQ than all other major U.S. stock markets. NASDAQ is the fastest growing major stock market in the U.S.- and home to over half of the companies traded on the primary U.S. markets.
  NASDAQ trades more shares per day than any other U.S. equities market. On NASDAQ, trades are executed through a sophisticated computer and telecommunications network - a system which transmits timely, critical investment information to more than 1.3 million users in 83 countries. NASDAQ is also among the world's best-regulated stock markets, employing sophisticated surveillance systems and regulatory specialists to protect investors and provide a fair and competitive trading environment.
  
  
• U.S.A. - New York Board of Trade
  Although the markets of the New York Board of Trade provide a variety of industries with price discovery and risk management capabilities, in each case the instruments traded are the same: a futures contract that offers greater hedging precision and a futures option contract that offers greater hedging flexibility.
  A futures contract is a standardized, legal agreement between two parties to make or take delivery of a specific quantity of a particular grade and type of a commodity or a cash settled equivalent on a specified date, at an established point and an agreed upon price. A futures option contract grants the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a futures contract at a given price on or before a stipulated date. The principle of trading in the NYBOT exchanges and subsidiaries is also the same: an open and competitive auction market.
  The transaction traditionally takes place through "open outcry" on the floor of the exchange. The rest of the trade process, before and after the transaction, may be routed by hand or by an electronic order routing system. Bids to buy and offers to sell are called out in the trading ring, making the information immediately available to all traders in the particular market. In the ring, the traders recognize each other's bids and offers; sellers accept bid prices and buyers take offer prices. When transactions take place, subsequent bids and offers for futures contracts may be affected and prices may change. Through the open outcry system, the market user has access to a proven price discovery process, a wide array of specialized strategic trading capabilities and a valuable market information source. In open outcry and in electronic trading all market participants are given the opportunity to buy or sell at the best available current price. Futures prices are disseminated throughout the world and become the benchmark for cash market pricing.
  
  
• U.S.A. - New York Mercantile Exchange
  Each day, billions of dollars worth of energy products, precious metals,and other commodities are bought and sold on the trading floor of the New York Mercantile Exchange. And, shortly after the trading floor closes, overnight electronic trading picks up. That's because night and day, minute by minute, the value of these strategic commodities are changing, and those changes can have an effect on everything from the price you pay for gasoline at the pump to the cost of the copper tubing the plumber replaces after your pipes freeze in the winter.
  The prices quoted for transactions on the Exchange are the basis for the prices that people throughout the United States and in many other countries pay for crude oil, heating oil, gasoline, natural gas, propane, gold, silver, platinum, palladium, and copper. Trading is also conducted in the Eurotop 100*, a European stock index.
  Today, physical supplies of the traded commodities are nowhere to be found in the offices of the New York Mercantile Exchange or on its trading floor. In fact, they are infrequently delivered through the Exchange at all, even though Exchange rules permit it. Instead the traders buy and sell on the Exchange through instruments called futures contracts.
  A futures contract is a legally binding obligation for the holder of the contract to buy or sell a particular commodity at a specific price and location at a specific date in the future.
  The contracts are standardized to make sure that the prices mean the same thing to everyone in the market; everyone trades contracts with the same specifications for quality, quantity, and delivery terms.
  That way, if the price of heating oil is quoted on the exchange at 50? a gallon, everyone knows that's the wholesale price for delivery of a specific grade and quality of oil in New York Harbor, the specified location. No one can say later that they thought it was the price for Bridgeport.
  Futures contracts are most widely used for hedging. Hedging allows someone to offset the risk of fluctuating prices when he buys or sells physical supplies of a commodity. For example, a copper mining company might sell a futures contract to lock in its sales price and protect its source of revenue should the market value of copper fall. (If copper prices rise instead, then the increased value of the physical metal offsets its loss on the futures contract). At the same time, a wire manufacturer who buys copper to use as a raw material in the production of wire might buy a copper futures contract to lock in his raw materials cost. (If the price of copper falls, the cost advantage gained by buying the actual copper at a lower price offsets his loss in the futures market.)
  In both cases, the copper mining company and the wire manufacturer could, if they wished, hold their futures contracts until they expired, and then make or take delivery through the Exchange at a warehouse designated as an Exchange delivery location.
  A point to remember: hedgers don't try to make a killing in the market. They use the futures to help stabilize their revenues or their costs. Speculators, on the other hand try to profit by buying low and selling high (or vice versa), taking a position in the futures market and hoping the market moves in their favor. Hedgers hold offsetting positions in the market for the physical commodity; speculators do not.
  Some speculators study the trends of supply and demand (the fundamentals) of the underlying product to figure out which way the market will go. Others chart the movement of futures prices, often using computer programs to help them figure out the trends. Both types of speculators hope their price projections are right.
  Speculators also play an important role in the market by adding liquidity. They often take the opposite sides of the bids or offers that are in the market, ensuring that business will be done. Some exchange markets, such as those for stocks, use a system of brokers, also called specialists, who are required to trade certain stocks, ensuring there is a market for them. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, however, a trade will not be completed unless someone is willing to take the other side of a transaction.
  It is also important to realize that the Exchange does not set the prices of the traded commodities. The prices are determined in an open and continuous auction on the Exchange floor by the members who are acting on behalf of their customers, the companies they represent, or themselves. The process of the auction is called open outcry. A strong or distinctive voice is a must for a trader.
  
  
• U.S.A. - New York Stock Exchange
  
  
• U.S.A. - Pacific Stock & Options Exchange
  The Pacific Exchange (PCX) is a marketplace where individual and institutional investors, professional broker-dealers, and registered member firms meet to buy and sell options on more than 1,200 stocks. It is one of the world's leading derivatives markets.
  Founded in 1882, the Pacific enjoys a long-standing reputation for technological innovation. It was the first exchange in the world to build and operate an electronic trading system. It developed a new, more efficient method of clearing and settling securities trades that has been adopted by exchanges worldwide. It was the first U.S. stock exchange to demutualize, establishing PCX Equities, Inc. as a for-profit, corporate subsidiary of the Pacific Exchange in 1999.
  The PCX is also the regulator of the Archipelago Exchange (ArcaEx), a fully electronic market for securities listed on the New York, American stock exchanges, the Pacific Exchange, and the Nasdaq Stock Market. The PCX provides all market surveillance, member firm financial and operating compliance monitoring, and enforcement services for ArcaEx, which is operated by Archipelago Holdings, LLC (www.tradearca.com). ArcaEx began trading operations on March 22, 2002.
  The PCX maintains the PSE/PCX Technology Index, the leading benchmark for measuring the performance of the broad-based technology sector.
  
  
• U.S.A. - Philadelphia Stock Exchange
  
  
• U.S.A. - The Chicago Board of Trade
  The Chicago Board of Trade is a futures exchange, dealing predominatly in U.S. Treasury bond futures contract and other U.S. Treasury instruments spanning the yield curve.
  The Board of Trade serves as a forum, or meeting place, for exchange member buyers and sellers of commodities. The traders are individual member and member firms who seek to trade either agricultural commodities or financial instruments for their customers or themselves.
  
  
• Uganda - Uganda Securities Exchange
  
  
• Ukraine - Ukrainian Stock Exchange
  
  
• United Arab Emirates - Abu Dhabi Secutities Market
  
  
• United Arab Emirates - Dubai Financial Market
  
  
• United Kindom - The London Metal Exchange Ltd
  The London Metal Exchange provides the global forum for all those who wish to manage the risk of future price movements in non-ferrous metals. The Exchange has developed standardised contracts which assume that on falling due they will result in metal either being delivered or received.
  Brands of metal that meet rigorous quality standards are stored in approved warehouses around the world so that metal can change hands - but in reality most contracts are settled out without that taking place.
  All the trading associated with the Exchange means that the market is highly liquid, transparent and the prices published are seen as a true reflection of demand and supply by trade and industry.
  The LME provides an outstanding service to industry through its activities, and has a great responsibility because of its pre-eminence in this field. We are proud of our regulatory standards, which promote further confidence in what we do.
  
  
• United Kingdom - Baltic Exchange
  The Baltic Exchange is the only established and self-regulated global market place for shipbrokers, owners and charterers. Balticexchange.com provides on-line access to the industry's only source of quality, independent and real-time freight market data. Details of port agents located across the globe are also available.
  
  
• United Kingdom - Euronext LIFFE
  Euronext.liffe refers to the combined derivatives operations of Euronext and LIFFE.
  It comprises:
  Amsterdam: Euronext Amsterdam Commodity Markets and Euronext Amsterdam Derivative Markets, which are regulated markets under Dutch Law
  Brussels: Euronext Brussels Derivatives Market, which is a regulated market under Belgian Law
  Lisbon: Euronext Lisbon Futures and Options Market, which is a regulated market under Portuguese Law
  London: LIFFE Administration and Management, which is a Recognised Investment Exchange under English Law
  Paris: MATIF and MONEP, which are regulated markets under French Law
  All are regulated markets under the European Union's Investment Services Directive, except for the Euronext Amsterdam Commodity Markets.
  LIFFE is a Recognised Investment Exchange ("RIE") under English law. In addition to its status as an RIE, LIFFE is a regulated market of the European Economic Area (in relation to products covered by the European Union?s Investment Services Directive) and, as such, appears on the list of such markets published in the Official Journal of the European Communities.
  LIFFE equity options allow you to take advantage of share price movements without necessarily buying or selling the shares. One of the greatest benefits of trading options is the leverage (or "gearing") that options provide, allowing you to gain exposure to larger amounts of shares for less initial cash outlay than would be possible when trading the actual shares. It's simpler thank you think: if you buy an equity option, you get the right - without the obligation - to buy or sell the underlying shares at a fixed price by an appointed time. If the market moves in your favour, you gain; if you get it wrong, all you lose is the price you paid for the option. And you can win whether the market's rising, falling, static or volatile.
  
  
• United Kingdom - London Stock Exchange
  We are one of the world's leading equity exchanges and a leading provider of services that facilitate the raising of capital and the trading of shares.
  • We are one of Europe's leading stock exchanges.
  • We are the most international of all stock exchanges, with more than 470 companies from over 60 countries admitted to trading on our markets.
  • We provide the markets and means of raising capital for UK and international companies through equity, debt and depositary receipt issues.
  • We give investors of all types the opportunity to buy and sell shares in the companies of their choice.

  
  Our strategy is to be the leading exchange organisation in Europe and to shape the globalisation of capital markets through technology links and partnerships, thus creating value for our shareholders.
  
  

• United Kingdom - OFEX Plc
  
  
• United Kingdom - The International Petroleum Exchange of London Ltd
  The International Petroleum Exchange of London Limited is a Recognised Investment Exchange. It is Europe's leading energy futures and options exchange. The IPE provides a highly regulated marketplace where industry participants use futures and options to minimise their price exposure in the physical energy market. Over $2 billion daily in underlying value is traded on the IPE.
  
  
• United Kingdom - Virt-X
  
  
• Uruguay - Montevideo Stock Exchange (Bolsa de Valores Montevideo)
  
  
• Venzuela - Caracas Stock Exchange
  
  
• West Indies - Jamaica Stock Exchange
  Its principal objectives are:
  • to promote the orderly development of the stock market and the Stock Exchange in Jamaica;
  • to ensure that the stock market and its Broker-members operate at the highest standards practicable;
  • to develop, apply and enforce rules designed to ensure public confidence in the stock market and its Broker-members;
  • to provide facilities for the transaction of stock market business;
  • to conduct research, disseminate relevant information and maintain local and international relationships calculated to enhance the development of the Jamaica Stock Market.

  
  The Stock Market commenced operations on Monday February 3,1969. Stocktrading is restricted to Broker-members who trade both as agents and as principals. In the latter capacity, certain restrictions apply to transactions between a Broker and his own client.
  
  

• West Indies - Trinidad & Tobago Stock Exchange
  
  
• Yugoslavia - Belgrade Stock Exchange
  
  
• Zambia - Lusaka Stock Exchange
  
  
• Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe Stock Exchange
  
  

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