CBOE Began Trading Options On The New iShares Russell Microcap Index (IWC) Today, Wednesday, August 17

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) announced that it began trading options on the new iShares Russell Microcap Index (NYSE and CBOE ticker symbol IWC) today, Wednesday, August 17.

The Russell Microcap^TM Index, launched in June, 2005, tracks the performance of 2,000 of the smallest publicly traded companies in the United States. The stocks in this new index have market capitalizations of $55 million to $500 million and represent companies ranked number 2,001 through 4,000 by market capitalization. The iShares Russell Microcap Index Fund relies on Barclays Global Fund Advisors (BGFA) portfolio management to optimize the IWC portfolio, generally holding fewer securities than those within the index. The Underlying Index will be a customized subset of the Russell Microcap Index, representing only the most investable securities of the approximately 2,000 smallest companies in the U.S. equity market included in that index, as determined by Russell.

IWC options will trade on the March expiration cycle, with introductory expirations in September, October, November and December. Strike prices will range from 40 to 60, in one point increments, with position limits of 25,000 contracts. Susquehanna Investment Group has been named the DPM in the options.

For more information on new listings, visit the Trading Tools section of the CBOE website at: http://www.cboe.com/NewListings.