Options Monthly Volume Surpasses Half a Billion Contracts

The Options Industry Council (OIC) announced today that 550,049,407 total options contracts changed hands in August, a 94 percent increase over August 2010 when 283,487,110 contracts were traded. In addition to August setting a new monthly record, several other records were achieved throughout the month, including three consecutive daily volume records.

This is the first time in history monthly volume has surpassed half a billion contracts. Furthermore, August saw the top four of the ten highest volume days for both total options and equity options. On August 8, 41,535,580 contracts were traded, establishing a new daily volume record and marking the first time over 40 million contracts were traded in one day.

Average daily volume for August came in at 23,915,191 contracts, 85.60 percent more than the 12,885,778 contracts traded during August 2010. Year-to-date volume for August stood at 3,115,816,555 contracts compared to 2,561,734,543 contracts traded in the same period last year, representing a 21.63 percent increase. Year-to-date average daily volume was 18,546,527 contracts, up 20.91 percent over 15,339,728 contracts in August of last year.

OIC also reported equity options volume experienced an increase of 91.41 percent with 501,947,732 contracts exchanged in August compared to 262,234,107 contracts for the same year-ago period. Equity options volume on average each day in August was 21,823,814 contracts, up 83.09 percent compared to 11,919,732 contracts for the same month last year. Year-to-date equity options volume for August stood at 2,888,506,287 contracts compared to the same point last year when 2,362,307,730 contracts were traded, representing a 22.27 percent increase.

About OIC

OIC is an industry cooperative funded by BATS Options, Boston Options Exchange, Chicago Board Options Exchange, C2, International Securities Exchange, NASDAQ OMX PHLX, NASDAQ Options Market, NYSE Amex Options, NYSE Arca Options and OCC. OIC was formed in 1992 to educate investors and their financial advisors about the benefits and risks of exchange-traded equity options. OIC’s resources include: Investor Services live help at 1-888-OPTIONS, educational websites at www.OptionsEducation.org, www.OptionsEducation.org/advisor and www.OptionsEducation.org/institutional, live seminars throughout the continental United States and Canada, instructional DVDs and educational literature.

See entire story on the OIC website

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