The international derivatives exchange Eurex reported today that in May 2007 trading volumes reached 156 million contracts (May 2006: 174 million). Average daily trading volume at Eurex was 7.4 million contracts. Total trading volumes on Eurex in the first 5 months reached 774 million contracts, up 15 percent year-on-year. Open interest, an indicator for future growth, increased to 126 million contracts.
With 58 million contracts, the fixed income derivatives segment was the strongest segment at Eurex (May 2006: 72 million contracts). Compared to April 2007, monthly volumes rose by 18 percent. The Euro-Bund Future remained the most heavily traded product at Eurex with 26 million contracts. 13 million contracts were traded in the Euro-Bobl future, as well as roughly 13 million contracts in the Euro-Schatz future.
In the equity index derivatives segment 52 million contracts were traded (May 2006: 53 million). The future on the Dow Jones Euro STOXX 50 reached 20 million contracts, options on the Dow Jones EURO STOXX 50 had 19 million contracts. In 2007, the total number of equity index futures and options reached 279 million contracts, plus 50 percent year-on-year. Open interest grew especially in the top-selling index options, e.g. reaching new records in the Dow Jones Euro STOXX 50 options with 35 million contracts and in DAX options with 10 million.
Equity derivatives totalled 46 million contracts (May 2006: 49 million). Volumes in this segment have reached 184 million contracts over the first 5 months, an increase of 17 percent year-on-year. Single stock futures grew over-proportionally by 30 percent to 32 million contracts.
Approximately € 12.9 billion (single counting) was traded in May on the electronic trading platform Eurex Bonds, which rounds out Eurex’s fixed-income product range. This represent a year-on-year increase of 8 percent (May 2006: €12 billion) and an increase of 40 percent on the previous month (April 2007: €9.2 billion).
