[author: Kenneth M. Rosenzweig, Kevin M. Foley and Blake J. Brockway]

On October 1, the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) issued an advisory notice regarding an amendment to its block trading rules. Subject to Commodity Futures Trading Commission review, NYMEX will expand the list of products eligible for block trading to include 494 additional energy products, effective October 15. Block trades in existing NYMEX and Commodity Exchange, Inc. (COMEX) block-eligible products must continue to be reported within five minutes, but the reporting time from for the additional 494 products will be fifteen minutes. In addition, NYMEX intends to reduce the block trade minimum threshold in certain core energy contracts and eliminate eligibility for block trading in certain other energy products. 

A complete list of products that are eligible for block trading on NYMEX and COMEX, including the corresponding quantity thresholds for such products, is available here.

The NYMEX Market Regulation Advisory Notice is available here.