CME Group Inc. (CME) reported that Tuesday's market swoops drove record trading activity in its electronic futures and options markets, topping volumes seen during the May 2010 "flash crash."

More than 25.7 million contracts changed hands on CME's markets Tuesday as the contract price of its electronic futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index hit its lowest level in a year before investors rallied behind the Federal Reserve's commitment to keep rates near zero until mid-2013.

"All that energy in the markets took us to extremes," said Frank Lesh, a broker with FuturePath Trading in Chicago. "And a lot of speculators wanted in on the action."

CME on Wednesday reported all-time highs in gold derivatives trading Tuesday, with more than 500,000 contracts bought and sold. Australian dollar futures and options traded at CME also set a new volume record Tuesday.

About 25.3 million contracts were traded on CME's exchanges during the May 6, 2010 flash crash session.

-By Jacob Bunge, Dow Jones Newswires; 312 750 4117; jacob.bunge@dowjones.com

 
  --Howard Packowitz contributed to this article.
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