CBOE Index Options Volume Sets New Monthly Record, SPDR (SPY) Options Volume Adds To Increase

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) announced today that January volume, led by active trading in index options, including the newly listed SPDR options (SPY), totaled 34,883,759 contracts. Index options volume of 13.3 million contracts set a new monthly record, surpassing the longstanding previous monthly record of 12,450,979 contracts set in January 1987.

Exchange Volume, January 2005:

Total Volume
34,883,759 contracts
+2% vs. year-ago (Jan 04)
+14% vs. previous month (Dec 04)

Average Daily Volume
1,744,188 contracts
+2% vs. year-ago (Jan 04)

Open Interest
116,544,793 contracts
+8% vs. year-ago (Jan 04)
- 25% vs. previous month (Dec 04)

Year-To-Date Volume
34,883,759 contracts
+2% vs. YTD 2004

January highlights at CBOE included:
Volume for the month of January in index options totaled 13,327,927 contracts, an increase of 17% over year ago levels.Average daily volume in index options was 666,396 contracts during January, with open interest standing at 19,800,122 at month's end.

In the 15 trading days since its introduction on January 10, volume in options on SPDRs (SPY) totaled 888,880 contracts, with average daily volume of 59,259 contracts. CBOE traded 38% of the total industry-wide volume, making CBOE the busiest exchange for options on SPDRs.

Volume in stock option classes declined 5.1%, as 21.6 million contracts were traded. The top five stock option classes at CBOE during January were: TASER (TASR), Intel Corp. (INTC), Microsoft (MSFT), Sirius Satellite (SIRI), and Pfizer (PFE).

Total volume for January at the CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE) was 8,421 contracts, up 66% over December's total of 5,076 contracts. Since it's launch on March 26th, CFE traded 99,753 contracts. Open interest stood at 10,193 contracts at the end of January.