Options Industry Council Announces Record Month in May
The Options Industry Council (OIC) announced that May 2007 trading set a new monthly volume record with 229,227,230 total options contracts changing hands. This represents a 14.8 percent increase over May 2006, the record month at that time, and an increase of more than 600,000 contracts over the previous monthly volume record set in March 2007.
The month also saw the one billion contract mark surpassed for the fourth consecutive year, taking only 99 days to reach this milestone compared to 124 days in 2006. The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) reported that year-to-date total options volume is 1,035,533,312 contracts, an increase of 23.7 percent over the same period last year.
Average daily volume stands at 10,053,721 contracts year-to-date, up 23.7 percent over the same period in 2006. May supplemented this with an average daily volume of 10,419,419 contracts, the highest daily average ever recorded in a month and an increase of 14.8 percent over May of last year. Making this feat even more impressive is the absence of any top ten volume days during the month, a common occurrence in record months the past several years. This indicates a higher base level of trading as new records are achieved without dramatic trading surges.
Equity options volume for the month was also record-setting, reaching 207,027,757 contracts, 15.6 percent higher than May 2006 and a 2.3 percent increase over the previous record set in March 2007. Year-to-date equity options volume is currently 936,015,097 contracts, up 22.3 percent over the same point last year.
On May 18, total open interest and equity open interest reached new highs with 267,614,092 and 245,778,740 contracts, respectively. Open interest is the total number of options contracts not yet exercised or allowed to expire.
OIC is a non-profit association funded by the American Stock Exchange, Boston Options Exchange, Chicago Board Options Exchange, International Securities Exchange, NYSE Arca, Philadelphia Stock Exchange and The Options Clearing Corporation.
Frank Kneipher
FKPRINTS1@YAHOO.COM
