OIC Reports Option Volume Down Over 11 Percent in January

Overall option trading volume has been steadily increasing for years now. But according to the OIC, January’s volume was down over 11% when compared to January of last year. I would suspect it has something to do with all the financial problems in Europe and the uncertainty it has brought to the entire global financial community.

The Options Industry Council (OIC) just announced that 335,399,999 total options contracts changed hands in January, which is down 11.38 percent compared to January of last year when 378,480,506 contracts were traded.

Although volume is down compared to last year, January 2012 is the third highest January by volume on record. Average daily volume for the month came in at 16,770,000 contracts, 11.47 percent less than the 18,942,025 contracts traded during January 2011.

Equity options volume (options on individual stocks and ETFs) in January saw 313,363,017 contracts exchanged, 11.68 percent less than in January 2011 when 354,795,514 contracts were traded. On average, 15,668,151 contracts were traded each day throughout January compared to last year when an average of 17,739,776 contracts were traded daily, representing an 11.68 percent decrease.

About OIC
OIC is an industry cooperative funded by BATS Options, BOX 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 the OIC website for the entire original article

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