CHICAGO (HedgeWorld.com)– The options markets once again proved that records were indeed made to be broken, according to data collected by the Options Industry Council, an association funded by the options exchanges and the Options Clearing Corp.
November marks the sixth straight month that equity options volume has increased over the previous year's volume, according to the group. The OIC tracked a 1.19% increase in equity options volume last month from that of November 2001.
Equity open interest, which is the total number of options contracts not yet exercised or allowed to expire, reached a new daily record on Nov. 15 of 102.4 million contracts. This surpasses the previous record set on Oct. 18 of 101.9 million contracts. Month-end equity open interest also set a new record (Previous HedgeWorld Story).
At the exchange level, the largest exchange, the Chicago Board Options Exchange, announced that its index options volume increased 34% over the volume reported in November 2001. For the exchange, it is the seventh consecutive month that index options volume at CBOE has registered a gain over the previous year. CBOE Traders handle options on a number of stock indexes, including the S&P 500 stock index, S&P 100, Nasdaq 100 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
