Recall that the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange had a nice cozy deal all sewn up when the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) interloped with a competitive bid. That forced the Chicago Merc to up its bid 16 percent. Which won it approval from the CBOT board. But not so fast. The ICE has inked a deal with Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) that will pay CBOT members who own CBOE exercise rights up to $500,000 in cash or securities for each right if an ICE-CBOT deal goes through. So this effectively shores up ICE support among an important constituency. It may not be enough to tip the balance toward the ICE, but it is certainly fighting. All this alphabet soup may seem confusing. But the stakes are high, as options trading looms as a growth industry.

For more:
- here's the article from The Associated Press