Dow Jones Newswires | The nearly year-old exchange, ELX Futures LP, intends to launch Eurodollar futures on June 18. ELX announced the start-up date Monday morning, but its plans for listing the interest-rate product were revealed for the first time last October.

Eurodollar futures are a closely watch gauge of short-term interest-rate
expectations.

The all-electronic exchange’s Eurodollar contracts will mirror those offered at CME Group Inc., the world’s largest futures exchange.

ELX, which made its debut last July, is one of two exchanges attempting
to whittle away at CME’s dominance in interest-rate derivatives trading.

Eurodollar futures are CME’s most popular interest-rate product,
although trading volumes have only recently picked up in the aftermath
of the credit crunch that led to the worst financial crisis since the
Great Depression.

The contracts reflect the market’s view for the direction of the
three-month London interbank offered rate, or Libor, which determines
the cost of borrowing U.S. dollars in the London interbank market.

A consortium of banks, trading firms, and technology companies provide
the financial backing for ELX, which aims to provide customers with a
less-expensive trading alternative to CME. The all-electronic exchange currently lists futures on the two-, five-,
and 10-year Treasury notes, on 30-year Treasury bonds and on ultra-long
Treasury bonds–all identical to CME products.

So far, the exchange has garnered a market share of about 3%.

Last month, ELX announced it will launch federal-funds futures by the
end of this year. It also plans to offer options for the various
interest-rate products. A three-way battle was set up earlier this month when NYSE Euronext said
its Liffe U.S. derivatives unit will launch a “full suite” of
Eurodollar and Treasury futures in the third quarter of this year.