CBOE Holdings Reports February 2012 Trading Volume - CBOE And C2 Volumes Increase 12% And 20%, Respectively, From January - CFE And VIX Futures Post Second-Busiest Month In History

CBOE Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOE) today reported that February trading volume for options on theChicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and C2 Options Exchange (C2), combined, totaled 101.5 million contracts.  February's average daily volume (ADV) was nearly 5.1 million contracts, a 12-percent increase from January 2012 ADV of 4.5 million contracts, and a one-percent increase from February 2011 ADV of five million contracts.

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CBOE Trading Volume and Market Share

• CBOE trading volume — CBOE's February 2012 ADV of 4.8 million contracts was relatively unchanged from February 2011, but was 12 percent higher than January 2012 ADV of 4.3 million contracts.
• CBOE index options — February 2012 index option ADV was 1.2 million contracts, up 12 percent from 1.1 million contracts ADV in February 2011 and up 18 percent from January 2012 ADV of just over one million contracts.
• CBOE ETF options — February 2012 ETF option ADV was more than 1.2 million contracts, up five percent from nearly 1.2 million contracts ADV inFebruary 2011 and up 14 percent from January 2012 ADV of 1.1 million contracts.
• CBOE equity options — February 2012 equity option ADV was 2.4 million contracts, down eight percent from 2.6 million contracts ADV in February 2011and up eight percent from January 2012 ADV of 2.2 million contracts.
• The five most actively traded index and ETF options at CBOE during February were the S&P 500 Index (SPX), Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts (SPY), CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), QQQ Trust (QQQ) and iShares Trust-Russell 2000 Index Fund (IWM).
• The five most actively traded equity options at CBOE during February were Apple (AAPL), Bank of America (BAC), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) and Citigroup (C).  

Expanded February 2012 volume information for CBOE index and ETF options is available at: www.cboe.com/data/monthlyvolume.aspx.

CBOE Market Share:

CBOE February market share was 27.7 percent, up 2.0 percentage points from January 2012 and up 1.7 percentage points from February 2011.  If the volume from dividend trades was excluded from industry data for February 2012, CBOE's total market share for February would be 29.1 percent.

Exclusion of dividend trades from total industry volume data presents a more relevant measure of the relative trends in the options business.

CBOE February 2012 Market Share by Product:

• Index options — CBOE's market share was 94.5 percent, down 0.5 of a percentage point from January 2012 and even with February 2011.
• ETF options — CBOE's market share was 22.4 percent, up one percentage point from January 2012 and up 2.8 percentage points from February 2011.
• Equity options — CBOE's market share was 22.2 percent, up 1.6 percentage points from January 2012 down 0.2 of a percentage point from February 2011.

C2 Options Exchange Trading Volume and Market Share

C2 Trading Volume:

In February 2012, C2 ADV was 241,400 contracts, up 20 percent from January 2012 ADV of 201,800 contracts and up 62 percent from February 2011 ADV of 148,800 contracts.  February ETF, equity and index option average daily volumes were all up from January 2012 — posting increases of 31 percent, seven percent and 10 percent, respectively, over the previous month.

C2 Market Share: 

In February 2012, C2's market share totaled 1.4 percent, up 0.2 of a percentage point from January 2012 and up 0.6 of a percentage point fromFebruary 2011. If the volume from dividend trades was excluded from industry data for February, C2's total market share would be 1.5 percent.

CBOE Futures Exchange Trading

• CBOE Futures Exchange and futures on the CBOE Volatility Index posted their second-busiest month ever in February, trailing only August 2011.
• For the month, volume in CBOE Volatility Index futures totaled more than 1.3 million contracts. February ADV for VIX futures was nearly 67,000 contracts, up 65 percent from January 2012 and 61 percent from February 2011.  

CBOE Holdings Average Transaction Fee Per Contract

The following represents the average transaction fee per contract based on a three-month rolling average, reported on a one-month lag.  The average transaction fee per contract represents total transaction fees for CBOE, C2, and CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE) recognized for the period divided by total contracts traded during the period.  Average transaction fees per contract can be affected by various factors, including exchange fee rates, volume-based discounts and transaction mix by contract type and product type.