CBOT membership rises to $395,000, year's high

Full membership at the Chicago Board of Trade rose to its highestprice of the year amid record transactions and as traders expect tosave money through a clearing link with the Chicago MercantileExchange.

A seat bearing the right to trade any contract at the second-biggest U.S. futures market sold for $395,000 on Friday, matching theyear's high set on March 12 and the most since March 2002. Associatemembership, the right to trade anything but crop futures, sold for$194,000, a four-year high. Futures are agreements to buy or sellassets at a set date and price.

Trading at the CBOT rose as mortgage-debt holders used its mostactive contract, 10-year U.S. Treasury futures, …