CME Group said it will postpone until July 6 the scheduled closing of most of its futures trading pits in Chicago and New York — including natural gas — due to a technical revision to its filing with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

“Previously scheduled to take place on Thursday, July 2, the last day for most open outcry futures trading is now expected to take place on Monday, July 6, pending expiration of CFTC review periods,” CME said Tuesday. “During its review, the CFTC could further delay the closure for up to 90 days.”

Citing the fact that open outcry futures trading has fallen to just 1% of the company’s total futures volume, CME announced in February that it would close the trading pits (see Daily GPI, Feb. 5). The announcement came nine years after the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) inked an agreement with CME’s Chicago Mercantile Exchange to offer side-by-side trading of its products on the open outcry floor and on CME’s Globex electronic exchange. CME acquired Nymex in 2008.

The floor-based S&P 500 futures market will remain open on the Chicago trading floor.

The delay to July 6 will not impact plans to locate all options pits in Chicago on a single floor in CME’s Financial Room by September, the company said.