A peculiar thing happened on Feb. 17, the Friday before the three–day Presidents’ Day weekend: An enormous supply of euros (EC) was offered on Globex, the electronic trading arm of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). Rumors began to fly around the spot forex market that someone was offering euro futures in size, by which spot traders meant "in the billions."

Is the story true? And if it’s true, what does it mean? First, to trade billions on Globex seems kind of silly, at least initially. After all, each contract is worth 100,000, or $119,250 as of the close on Feb. 17. To trade one billion dollars’ worth, you’d need 8,385 contracts — in a market where 100 contracts is a large trade. Why not just trade in the deeper spot market?