Each exchange establishes its own rules and regulations for members. Trading of domestic farms product is also regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and independent federal agency, and the National Futures Association, an association of the exchanges themselves. The U.S. Department of Agriculture sets standards for inspection and grading of agricultural commodities offered for sale at exchanges.

The commodity exchange is a development of the fairs and open-air markets of the Middle Ages. The first exchange similar to those of today were established in France and England in the 15th , 16th and 17th centuries.

The Chicago Board of Trade, opened in 1848, was the first commodity exchange in the United States and is today the largest. The futures contract was developed here in the 1860's. Other early United States exchanges include the New York Cotton Exchange(1871).

Major Commodity Exchanges in the United States and Canada. The exchanges listed below trade in both cash and futures.

• Chicago Board of Trade - Wheat, corn, oats, rice, soybeans, soybean meal, soybean oil, silver, gold, mortgages, U.S Treasury bonds, stock index contracts and other intangibles.
• Chicago Mercantile Exchange - Cheddar cheese, butter, milk, live cattle, feeder cattle, live hogs, pork bellies (bacon), lumber, foreign currencies and other intangibles.

• Coffee, Sugar and Cocoa Exchange (New York) - coffee, sugar, cocoa, cheddar cheese, milk, butter.
• Kansas City Board of Trade - Wheat, stock indexes (futures), options on wheat futures, natural gas options and futures.
• Mid-America Commodity Exchange (Chicago) - wheat, corn, oats, soybeans, live cattle, live hogs, silver, gold, platinum, soybean meal futures, soybean futures, wheat futures, options on gold, foreign currencies and other intangibles.
• Minneapolis Grain Exchange - Wheat, barley, corn, soybeans, rye, flax oats, sunflower seeds, shrimp, and electricity futures and options.
• New York Cotton Exchange and Associates - Cotton, citrus (orange juice), potatoes, and financial products.
• New York Mercantile Exchange - Palladium, gold, silver, platinum, heating oil, gasoline, crude oil, natural gas, propane, potatoes.
• Winnipeg (Canada) Commodity Exchange - Barley, flaxseed, wheat, oats, canola, peas.