Simple. Versatile. Affordable.

In 1982, when the Kansas City Board of Trade launched Value Line as the world's first stock index futures contract, we responded to market demands.

On Dec. 12, 2004 the KCBT responded again by offering the Value Line solely through electronic trading.

On May 8, 2005 (for the business trading day May 9) the KCBT reduced the multiplier of the Value Line contract from $100 to $25 to make it more comparable to other electronically traded stock index futures and options products.

Witht the reduction in size, the KCBT gives smaller investors more staying power, and larger traders a simpler multiplier in large stock index futures. All with the broad market exposure of the Value Line Arithmetic Index.

The Choice For Diversification

If you're seeking quick diversification, no futures-traded index does a better job than the Value Line.

Since its inception, the KCBT's Value Line has given stock traders a way to hedge their stock positions with a futures contract. Today, the Value Line remains one of the broadest-based stock indexes and is a good indicator of how the market will perform.

The Value Line's ability to reflect broad market performance comes from the equal weighting given each stock in the index. As a result, the price movement of a smaller company has as much impact on the index as the movement of a larger company. This is unlike other stock indexes, where the movement of larger or higher-priced stocks has a disproportionate influence.

Composed of about 1,650 stocks from different industries, the Value Line includes blue-chip, mid-cap and small-cap issues. About three-fourths are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, 20% are traded on the NASDAQ, and the remainder are traded on the American Stock Exchange and in Canada.

The Value Line is a great candidate for spread trading. It's an excellent spread against more narrow indexes such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor's 500, and against broader capitalization-weighted indexes such as the New York Stock Exchange Composite.

People in all segments of the equities investment community -- from investment bankers to pension fund managers to brokers -- consider the Value Line a key indicator of stock market dynamics.

Value Line® is a registered mark of Value Line, Inc., a New York corporation that provides financial services and publications. Since 1982, the Kansas City Board of Trade has been licensed to use the Value Line® mark in connection with its efforts to establish futures markets tied to the Value Line® index. The Kansas City Board of Trade and Value Line, Inc. are not affiliated corporate entities.