NYX Nyse Euronext

CME Group Inc. (CME) maintained its standing as the world's largest futures market in 2011, outpacing the prospect of an enlarged competitor in the planned merger of Deutsche Boerse AG (DB1.XE, DBOEF) and NYSE Euronext (NYX).

Chicago-based CME reported Wednesday a 10% rise in trading activity over 2010 levels, outstripping growth at the European futures markets run by its smaller rivals as global economic turmoil drove derivatives-trading activity to record levels.

About 3.4 billion futures and related derivatives contracts changed hands on CME's markets over the course of 2011, compared with two billion contracts traded on Deutsche Boerse's Eurex platform and 1.1 billion for NYSE Euronext's London-based Liffe market, according to an estimate from Macquarie Securities.

The three rivals--which could soon narrow to two, pending a European Union vote on the Deutsche Boerse-NYSE merger plan--are vying for control of a sector that has grown faster than the stock market and commands bigger trading fees.

Listed markets also have become increasingly global, with the Asia Pacific region in 2010 accounting for about 40% of global futures and stock-options trade. For decades, CME has sought to nurture ties to expanding financial hubs like those in Singapore and China, while a key aim of the Deutsche Boerse-NYSE merger is to create a more-influential company that can build deeper partnerships in Asia.

The region remains home to the single busiest derivatives exchange in the world, the Korea Exchange. Heavy retail-investor trading in small-sized options tracking the KOSPI stock index has helped lift daily trading activity at KRX to a reported 15.8 million contracts per day, topping CME's average daily turnover of 13.4 million contracts.

KOSPI contracts also constituted the fastest-growing market on Deutsche Boerse's Eurex platform, following a 2010 deal allowing the Frankfurt-based operator to trade the instruments in hours that the Korean marketplace is closed. About 17.4 million such contracts traded on Eurex last year, Deutsche Boerse reported Tuesday.

Deutsche Boerse also owns the International Securities Exchange, a stock-options market that traded 778.1 million contracts last year.

A strong 2011 that brought trading records in CME's energy, agriculture, foreign-exchange and metals markets helped overshadow a slower-than-usual December for the parent of the Chicago Board of Trade and New York Mercantile Exchange. Daily volume for CME averaged 9.6 million contracts in December, down 9% from a year earlier and a 27% drop from November.

Daily volume for interest-rate futures, the CME's biggest product by that metric, fell 30% from a year earlier to average 3.5 million contracts a day. Foreign-exchange volume slipped 11% from a year earlier.

Equity-index volume was up sharply, however, posting a 31% gain from December 2010 to average 2.8 million contracts a day.

Meanwhile, energy-focused market operator IntercontinentalExchange Inc. (ICE) reported its average daily volume was 1.1 million contracts last month, down 1.3% on the year and off 30% from November. Its biggest product, Brent crude futures and options, posted a 7.7% increase in daily volume from a year earlier, a slimmer gain than the double-digit jumps recorded in recent months.

ICE also posted a record year in 2011 with just over 381 million contracts traded, a 16% rise over 2010 activity, the company reported Wednesday.

-By Jacob Bunge, Dow Jones Newswires; 312 750 4117; jacob.bunge@dowjones.com; and Mia Lamar, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-3207; mia.lamar@dowjones.com

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