VOLUME IN S&P 500 INDEX OPTIONS SETS TRADING RECORD
The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) announced that on Monday, October 6, several records were established at the Exchange as trading in S&P 500 Index (SPX) options soared to a new all-time high and the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) reached record levels both intra-day and at the close of trading.
Trading volume in S&P 500 Index (SPX) options set a new record as a reported 2,182,562 contracts traded on Monday, October 6, topping the previous high of 2,070,573 contracts traded on August 16, 2007. SPX options are CBOE's most actively traded contract, with an average daily volume of 670,629 contracts per day year-to-date.
Additionally, total exchange volume at CBOE on Monday was a reported 9,568,382 contracts, ranking as the third busiest single day in CBOE history.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), a benchmark that tracks investor sentiment, set a pair of new records on Monday, October 6.
The CBOE Volatility Index® (VIX®) is a key measure of market expectations of near-term volatility conveyed by S&P 500 stock index option prices. Since its introduction in 1993, VIX has been considered by many to be the world's premier barometer of investor sentiment and market volatility. The benchmark index was developed by CBOE and data is disseminated daily from CBOE.Additionally, options on VIX are traded at CBOE, while futures on VIX are traded at the CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE).
The Options Industry Council (OIC) announced today that total options trading volume in September came in at 374,531,673 contracts, an 84.1 percent increase over the year-ago level of 203,411,204 contracts. This marks a new monthly trading volume record 2.3 percent higher than the previous record set in July.
OIC also reported that a new equity options volume record was set in September with 341,301,652 contracts changing hands, an increase of 86.7 percent over September 2007.
Two of the top 10 highest volume days were recorded back-to-back on September 17 and 18 for both total options and equity options. Total options volume on September 18 exceeded 30 million contracts for the first time in history and marked a 12 percent increase from the previous day’s record setting volume of over 26 million contracts.
Average daily trading volume in September experienced a 66.6 percent increase with 17,834,842 contracts this year compared to 10,705,853 contracts for the same period last year. Daily trading volume for 2008 is averaging 14,499,407 contracts compared to 10,817,085 contracts for the same period last year, which equals a 34 percent increase.
Daily equity options volume had an average of 16,252,460 contracts per day in September, which was an increase of 68.9 percent over the same month last year.
