Tops & bottoms of 2005: the move to for-profit status accelerated in earnest in 2005 as three exchanges and one futures firm went public and others were targets for capital raising firms eager to cash in. While equity volatility continued to wane, futures and options exchanges set records. Here is an offbeat look at some of the events of last year.(TRADE TRENDS)

Tops

IPO-MANIA

The successful IPOs of 2005 ran the gamut in terms of market models: The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the oldest futures exchange in the United States, finally took the plunge after years of fighting legal battles that delayed the offering; the International Securities Exchange (ISE), one of the newest exchanges, launched in 2000, and the first all-electronic options exchange; and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which is actually an OTC bilateral trading platform that is also the parent of ICE Futures, the former International Petroleum Exchange.

Chicago Board of Trade

CBOT's IPO was actually more successful than everyone's exchange IPO model, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. CBOT opened trading above $80 despite an offering price of $54, which was raised twice in months preceding the offering, and quickly rallied above $100. However, questions regarding its growth potential led some analysts to downgrade the stock leading to a dip as the year closed out.

International Securities Exchange

The most successful launch of a new exchange, ISE in a few short years went from start-up to volume leader in individual options and challenges the Chicago Board Options Exchange for overall leadership.

Intercontinental Exchange

The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) benefited from energy exemptions in the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 and established itself as a platform for OTC energy trading. The fall of Enron created an opportunity for the creation of cleared OTC products and ICE has been battling the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) to fill that space.

EXCHANGE SEAT PRICES

Chicago Board Options Exchange. CBOE announced plans early in 2005 to explore demutualization and a possible IPO. While issues relating to CBOT exercise rights holders continues to be a drag on its value, the possibility of another Chicago exchange IPO has helped CBOE seat prices nearly triple during the course of the year (see "Chartview," Trendlines page 14).

New York Mercantile Exchange. Seemed liked everyone wanted to get a piece of the energy exchange as Nymex took bids from multiple suitors. They …