The Chicago Mercantile Exchange reported that it posted total annual volume of over 1.3 billion contracts in 2006, achieving double-digit volume gains for the seventh consecutive year.

CME daily volume in 2006 averaged 5.3 million contacts, up 28% from 2005. Volume on the CME Globex electronic trading platform increased 31% for the year, with total volume of 956 million contracts and average daily volume of 3.8 million contracts. CME Globex volume grew to a record 75% of total CME volume for the fourth quarter of the year, versus 67% in the fourth quarter of 2005.

The exchange said that it set annual volume records across all product lines in 2006. CME interest rate products daily volume averaged 3.1 million contracts for the year, up 29% from the record volume levels achieved in 2005, primarily driven by continued growth in CME Eurodollar options. Foreign exchange products saw year-over-year average daily volume increase 35%, daily volume in CME E-mini equity products was up 25% compared with 2005, and equity standard products volume grew 23%. Total equity options volume grew 89% year over year, and commodities products experienced their fourth consecutive year of double-digit growth, up 41%.

NYMEX volume on CME Globex averaged 360,000 contracts per day in the fourth quarter, up from 175,000 contracts per day in the third quarter, and 79,000 contracts per day in the second quarter. Additionally, NYMEX volume on CME Globex reached a monthly record of 376,000 contracts per day in December.

“As we stated on our last earnings call in October, NYMEX energy and metals volumes traded through our Globex system have outpaced our original volume and profit assumptions,” said CME chief financial officer Jamie Parisi. “We committed to updating our guidance at the appropriate time and have decided to provide guidance for specific volume thresholds. If average daily volume is 500,000 contracts in a month, we expect an average of 31 to 33¢ per contract, if it is 1 million contracts per day we expect 25 to 27¢ per contract, and if it is 2 million contracts per day we expect 22 to 23¢ per contract.”

The notional value — or underlying dollar value — of transactions on CME in 2006 represented more than $827 trillion, up 30% from $638 trillion in 2005.