What do all of you guys think of today's announced fee changes at CBOT? There is this idea among leading FCM/Brokers that they may be trying to by-pass them by offering membership discounts to hedge funds directly. Will this strategy work?Also, a controversial issue here is that of forcing potential members to buy stock of the Holding company (CBOT Holdings) to become a member and have access to reduced fees. It seems that they are trying to bake the cake and eat it: they use fees as their source of cash flow and to drive liquidity, as all exchanges do, but in this case, the CBOT also seems to be using fees to encourage people to buy their stock and thus increase its price. I see it as a serious problem, attributed in part to the SRO (self-regulatory organization) nature of exchanges in the U.S. Surely it's not illegal, but it smells funnyDoes anyone have an opinion on this?

They are still a way off from by-passing the FCMs. Goldman would not allow that.Besides, fee changes were mostly cosmetic and the big players will keep paying the same prices, albeit in different Levels. Non-members are the ones getting screwed by having to pay more for trading U.S. Treasury Futures and options