On March 17, 2008, Chicago based CME Group signed a definitive agreement to acquire NYMEX Holdings, Inc. for $11.2 billion in cash and stock and the takeover was completed in August 2008.

The floor of the NYMEX is regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, an independent agency of the United States government.

These marketplaces provided a place for buyers and sellers to set the quality, standards, and establish rules of business.

In 1882, the name finally changed to the New York Mercantile Exchange when opening trade to dried fruits, canned goods, and poultry.

According to Leah McGrath Goodman's 2011 book The Asylum,[6] manipulation in this market was commonplace, performed by various parties including potato inspectors and NYMEX traders.

The worst incident was the 1970s potato bust, when Idaho potato magnate J. R. Simplot allegedly went short in huge numbers, leaving a large amount of contracts unsettled at the expiration date, resulting in a large number of defaulted delivery contracts.

NYMEX's reputation was severely damaged, because, as future chairman Michel Marks told Goodman in his book, "The essence of an exchange is the sanctity of its contract.

"[7] When the potato ban came into effect, NYMEX's platinum, palladium and heating oil markets were not significantly affected.

However, NYMEX's reputation suffered in Washington, D.C., especially with the regulations in the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the president of the exchange, Richard Leone brought in John Elting Treat, White House energy adviser to Presidents Carter and Reagan to help restore the credibility of NYMEX and to help the exchange explore the possibility of entering the petroleum market recognizing the great potential for moving well beyond the limited size of the New York Heating Oil market.

The launching of the WTI crude oil contract was championed by Treat, who, with difficulty, convinced the board and the two Marks family members, veteran and highly respected floor trader Francis Marks and his son, Michael, who had just become chairman of the board, to take a chance on trading crude oil.

Marks[8] – along with economist Arnold Safer, figured out that NYMEX could revamp an old heating oil futures contract.

Some of the first users of NYMEX heating oil deliveries were small scale suppliers of people in the Northern United States.

In 1997, the NYMEX moved to a new building on the Southwestern portion of Manhattan, part of a complex called the World Financial Center.

NYMEX maintained a close relationship with many organizations and people at World Trade Center, and After the attacks, the NYMEX built a $12 million trading floor backup facility outside of New York City with 700 traders' booths, 2,000 telephones, and a backup computer system.

However, in the early 2000s the electronically based exchanges started taking away the business of the open outcry markets like NYMEX.

ICE eventually began trading oil contracts that were extremely similar to NYMEX's, taking away market share almost immediately.

Banks, hedge funds, and huge oil companies stopped making telephone calls to the pits and started trading directly for themselves over screens.

[6] This was chronicled by Ben Mezrich in his New York Times Best Selling book Rigged which has been optioned for film adaptation by Summit Entertainment.

[17] The final executive management of NYMEX decided to sell it off in pieces, take golden parachute buyouts, and leave.

In 2006 NYMEX underwent an initial public offering (IPO) and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

[19] In 2009 it was reported that holders of COMEX gold futures contracts experienced problems taking delivery of their metal.