The competition between CME and ICE has been heating up for a while, and we’ve been keeping tabs on some of the latest developments regarding their competition in Europe (here and here). But that’s not the only place where the CME has been intent on fighting off challenges from the rival exchange.

Back in May of last year, the competition led to a shift in grain trading hours, when ICE’s expanded online trading hours spurred the CME to follow suit. But less than a year later, and the CME has announced plans to reverse that decision. Via the Wall Street Journal:

CME Group Inc. will reduce its trading day in grain and soybean futures to 17½ hours from 21 hours, largely undoing a controversial expansion done last year.

The new schedule trims afternoon hours and creates a 45-minute pause in trading in the morning before open-outcry, or “pit,” trading begins, exchange officials said Tuesday.

The new hours come in response to criticism that the trading schedule had become bloated, increasing costs for grains traders and creating periods of low-volume, highly volatile trade.

The initial decision to expand trading hours proved unpopular with some, who complained that the new hours didn’t leave enough time for traders to absorb new USDA reports upon release. But of course, the new decision to pare hours back once again is proving unpopular with other groups, like small grain buyers who preferred the flexibility that the extended hours provided. Either way, we’d be surprised if the continuous reshuffling of trading hours makes either camp happy.