Live Cattle futures and options on futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange are effective ways to limit risk without limiting profit potential. Producers, processors, large retailers and traders have all found it to their advantage to participate in these large, liquid and orderly markets.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange provides a centralized marketplace for investment and risk management. The CME was established in 1919 as the successor to the Butter and Egg Board which had been created in 1898. The Exchange comprises three divisions-the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, on which are traded agricultural futures contracts; the International Monetary Market (IMM) division, established in 1972 for the trading of currency and, Subsequently, interest rate futures; and the Index Option Market (IOM) division, activated in 1982 for the trading of equity-related futures, in addition to options on futures.