A futures and options exchange in London, England that was modeled after the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Similar to its American counterparts, this exchange used to deal with futures, options and commodities contracts. However, in 2002, LIFFE was acquired by Euronext as part of its strategy to increase its presence as a derivatives market. LIFFE has been renamed Euronext.liffe. During most of its existence as an independent exchange, LIFFE used the open outcry system to facilitate trades. LIFFE's reluctance to change to an electronic trading system was a cause of its downfall. By the time LIFFE had implemented LIFE CONNECT, a widespread electronic trading platform, fully electronic exchanges had been in operation for almost 10 years and had already snatched up a sizable market share.