CBOE Ends Year As The First Exchange To Average Over A Million Options Contracts Per Day

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) has announced that it set new records in annual and monthly volume. Total exchange-wide volume soared to 254,331,851 contracts in 1999, accounting for a record year at CBOE that represents a 23% increase over the record setting 206,865,991 contracts traded in 1998. Average daily volume rose to 1,009,253 contracts in 1999, compared to 1998's record setting pace of 820,897 contracts. Exchange wide open interest reached an all-time year-end high, standing at 47,571,410 contracts, marking a 140% increase at the close of 1999 and breaking the previous record of 19,790,701 contracts which was set last year. The unprecedented growth in stock option trading continued to lead gains this year at CBOE as stock option volume reached a record high of 198,086,825 contracts (138,620,308 calls and 59,466,517 puts), an increase of 43% over last year's record level of 138,507,143 contracts (93,506,934 calls and 45,000,209 puts). Open interest in stock options stood at a year-end record 43,836,224 contracts - the equivalent of 4.38 billion shares of stock and an increase of 165% over last year's record setting level of 16,553,566 contracts. In 1999 CBOE listed 415 new option classes, bringing the total number of stock option classes listed at CBOE to 1,411. The ten most active classes in 1999 based on average daily volume were: American Online (AOL), Dell Computer (DELL), International Business Machines (IBM), Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO), Microsoft Corporation (MSFT), AT&T Corporation (T), Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO), Oracle Corporation (ORCL), QUALCOMM (QCOM) and Amazon.com (AMZN). CBOE continued its role as leader in index option trading, offering investors the most actively traded index options in the world. The "top indexes" and their average daily volume in 1999 were as follows: S&P 100® Index Options (OEX®) 101,674 contracts; S&P 500® Index Options (SPXTM) 92,515 contracts; Options on the Dow Jones Industrial AverageSM (DJX) 12,773 contracts and Nasdaq 100® Index Options (NDX) 5,442 contracts. Reflecting continuing customer demand for longer-term option investment strategies, new records were established in CBOE equity LEAPS® trading as volume in 1999 surged to a record 12,495,220 contracts, an increase of 74% over the previous annual high of 7,193,811 contracts set in 1998. Open interest in equity LEAPS stood at a year-end record 6,331,538 contracts (representing 633 million shares of stock) at the close of 1999, up 141% from the previous year-end record set at the close of 1998 when open interest stood at 2,623,740 contracts. Volume for S&P 500 (SPX) LEAPS trading in 1999 was 957,807 contracts, down 2.4% from last year, however open interest remained strong standing at 655,433 up 40.2% from the 1998 year end level. This past year CBOE enjoyed growing interest in its sector index products including the CBOE Internet Index (INX), CBOE Technology Index (TXX), GSTI Internet Index (GIN) and the Dow Jones Internet Commerce Index (ECM). Total volume for the sector indices in 1999 was 176,278 contracts compared to 116,530 contracts for 1998 a 51.3% increase. NASDAQ 100 Index Options (NDX) Posts late volume and open interest surges in 1999 Total volume in the NDX was 1,371,349 contracts a 12% decline from 1998 totals of 1,563,242 contracts. However, total open interest continued to be impressive at 85,954 contracts a 322% rise from year end 1998 when open interest stood at 20,375 contracts. In addition, total volume for the month of December in NDX was 209,801 contracts, a 151% increase from November's volume of 83,568 contracts. CBOE, the world's largest options marketplace and the creator of listed options is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). For additional information about the CBOE and its products, visit the CBOE web site at http://www.cboe.com.