On April 16, 2007, UxC and CME/NYMEX issued a joint press release announcing the introduction of on and off-exchange traded uranium futures products on the CME Globex® and CME ClearPort® electronic platforms on May 6 for the May 7, 2007 trade date. The initial product was the NYMEX UxC Uranium U3O8 Futures Contract (UX).
CME Group announced June 16, 2024, that for trade date Monday, June 17, 2024, of the UxC Uranium U3O8 Futures contract (Rulebook Chapter 970; Commodity Code: UX) to change the calculation of the Floating Price of the Contract. Pursuant to amendments to Rule 970101., commencing with the October 2024 contract month, the Exchange will utilize the arithmetic average of all weekly spot U3O8 prices published by UxC, LLC during each contract month in the Ux Weekly for the calculation of the Floating Price of the Contract. Previously, only the month-end spot U3O8 price was utilized for the calculation of the Floating Price of the Contract. The Exchange is implementing this amendment to the Floating Price calculation methodology to more closely align the Contract with existing market trading practices. There is no open interest in October 2024 contract month and beyond. The formal announcement can be found at: https://www.cmegroup.com/content/dam/cmegroup/notices/ser/2024/06/SER-9376.pdf
CME Group announced June 10, 2020 that several Metals products will be transferring from the NYMEX Designated Contract Market (DCM) to the COMEX DCM. As part of this move, effective Sunday, July 12, 2020 (trade date Monday, July 13), the UxC Uranium U3O8 futures (tag 6937-Asset=UX) will be transferred from the NYMEX DCM to the COMEX DCM. The contract will continue to clear at CME Clearing and the commodity codes will remain unchanged. To effect this change, the contract will be removed from NYMEX and added to COMEX. The formal announcement can be found at:
https://www.cmegroup.com/education/articles-and-reports/transfer-of-nymex-metal-products-to-comex.html and
https://www.cmegroup.com/notices/electronic-trading/2020/06/20200601.html#trfucx
CME Group announced November 13, 2018, that NYMEX will increase the spot month position limits for the UxC Uranium U3O8 Futures contract going forward. Currently, the UX contract is capped at a monthly position limit of 1,000 contracts (250,000 pounds U3O8). However, beginning on December 3, 2018, the market will increase the position limit cap to 2,000 contracts (500,000 pounds U3O8) to provide market participants with the ability to take larger monthly positions in the future. The formal announcement can be found at:
https://www.cmegroup.com/content/dam/cmegroup/notices/market-regulation/2018/11/MSN11-13-18.pdf
CME UX Contract Links:
Uranium Contract (UX) Overview
The New York Mercantile Exchange has partnered with UxC, LLC (UxC) to provide financially settled on- and off-exchange traded uranium futures contracts. The two organizations are working together to serve the needs of utilities, consumers, uranium mining and other nuclear fuel companies, governments, banking, and financial institutions by creating a pricing benchmark for the rapidly expanding nuclear fuel industry.
The NYMEX uranium futures contract will provide the industry with a transparent pricing mechanism. The contract’s final settlement price is based on the UxC index, which for the past 20 years, has provided U3O8, or “yellowcake” pricing. This term came from early production methods of the compound that yielded a bright yellow product resembling cake batter. U3O8 is the most actively traded uranium-related commodity, and the UxC pricing index has been utilized by all major nuclear fuel market participants as well as the United States government and private business organizations.
Recent events affecting supply development and the need for additional clean energy sources, such as nuclear power, have created the desire for a more transparent forward price curve as well as increased risk management tools in a volatile uranium marketplace.
The uranium futures contract is available for trading on CME Globex® and clearing on CME ClearPort®. The size of each contract is 250 lbs. and prices are quoted in U.S. dollars and cents. The final settlement price is the spot-month end price published by UxC.
Uranium Contract (UX) Specifications
- Trading Unit
- 250 pounds of U3O8
- Price Quotation
- U.S. dollars and cents per pound
- Minimum Price Fluctuation
- $0.05
- Trading Hours
- The contracts are available for trading on the CME Globex® and CME ClearPort® electronic trading systems from 6:00 PM Sundays through 5:15 PM Fridays, Eastern Time, with a 45-minute break each day between 5:15 PM and 6:00 PM.
- Trading Months
- 60 consecutive months
- Last Day of Trading
- Trading terminates at the close of business on the last Monday of the contract month. If the last Monday in the contract month is not a business day, trading shall terminate on the last business day prior to the Monday that is not a business day.
- Settlement
- Financial, based on the spot month-end U3O8 price published by UxC, LLC.
- Margin Requirements
- Margins are required for open futures positions.
- Trading Symbol
- UX
CME/NYMEX originally provided several additional documents explaining the new contracts. The first is a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) sheet addressing common questions and a copy of the contract specifications.
CME/NYMEX Press Releases
UxC has provided further discussion about the futures contacts and the uranium market in the
April 16, 2007,
May 7, 2007,
May 5, 2008,
Aug 1, 2016,
Jul 24, 2017, and
Aug 19, 2019,
cover stories in the Ux Weekly.