The Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the two derivatives exchanges in the middle of a merger, both increased volumes by more than a fifth last year to reach record levels of activity.

The CBOT increased trading volume by 20% in 2006 to reach an all time high of 805.8 million contracts, the fifth year in a row it set a record. Average daily volume on the exchange's electronic platform increased by 29% from last year to reach an all time high of 2.2 million contracts.