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The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) announced that a CBOE seat, or membership, traded for a new all-time high today.This morning, a seat traded for a price of $2,600,000, surpassing the previous high of $2,550,000 for a CBOE seat, which was set June 5, 2007. This was the third seat sale this week. On Tuesday, July 10, a seat sold for $2,525,000 and on Wednesday, July 11, a seat sold for $2,550,000, which tied the previous record price.
The first sale of 2007 was at a price of $1.8 million on January 10. To date, a total of 60 CBOE seats have traded in 2007.During 2006, the highest price paid for a CBOE seat was $1,775,000 on December 6. The lowest price paid was $850,000 on January 30, 2006, and the last sale of the year was on December 27 for $1,750,000. A total of 111 seats changed hands in 2006.
CBOE's Membership Department facilitates the purchase and sale of seats using an auction method in which bids and offers from interested parties are submitted to the Exchange. When a bid matches an offer, a sale is made.
Also, volume in options on the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) set a record yesterday, Wednesday, July 11, as 325,577 contracts traded, which topped the previous single day high of 277,260 contracts traded on May 16, 2007. VIX options volume during June 2007 totaled a record 2,000,936 contracts.
CBOE, the largest options marketplace in the U.S. 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 website at: www.cboe.com/.
