CBOE September Volume Increases 2%; Several Individual Volume Records Established

Total exchange volume for the month of September at the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) increased 2% to 24,968,536 contracts (13,036,848 calls and 11,931,688 puts), up from 24,498,252 contracts in September 2000. The week of September 17, CBOE established a new record for single-week volume when 11,650,602 contracts traded. This total exceeded the previous record from the week of May 11, 1998 by more 1.3 million contracts. The Exchange was closed for an unprecedented four consecutive days, September 11 through 14, in response to market conditions caused by the terrorist attacks in New York City.

CBOE set several other volume records in September, among them:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average^SM (DJX) set a new single-day volume record on Wednesday, September 19 when 139,535 contracts traded. This eclipsed the previous total of 136,293 contracts traded, set on November 21, 1997.
DJX also set an average daily volume record in September when it averaged 77,723 contracts per day for the month, besting the previous monthly average daily volume record of 58,888 contracts traded in April 2001.
The Nasdaq-100 Index® (MNX^SM) reached a high for weekly volume when 117,062 contracts traded during the week of September 17, surpassing the previous weekly volume record of 112,999 contracts traded during the week of May 14, 2001.

In September, CBOE exchange-wide average daily volume for the month was 1,664,569 contracts, an increase of 36% versus September 2000's average daily volume total of 1,224,913 contracts.

Stock option volume for the month of September totaled 17,532,396 contracts (9,730,490 calls and 7,801,906 puts), a decrease of 17% from September 2000's stock option volume of 20,997,184 contracts.

Total index volume at CBOE increased by 112% to 7,433,828 contracts (3,304,937 calls and 4,128,891 puts) from 3,500,017 contracts in September 2000.

Open interest in all CBOE listed options stood at 70,427,147 contracts (44,899,383 calls and 25,527,764 puts) at month's end, an increase of 32% over the end of September last year, when open interest stood at 53,241,378 contracts. Open interest in stock options stood at 61,923,630 contracts (40,459,829 calls and 21,463,801 puts) at the end of September, an increase of 25% over the close of September 2000 when open interest stood at 49,407,418 contracts. Open interest in index options reached a total of 8,497,383 contracts (4,436,374 calls and 4,061,009 puts) at the end of September, an increase of 122% versus September 2000 when open interest stood at 3,830,757 contracts.

The Nasdaq-100 Index Tracking StockSM (QQQ), continued its run as one of the most actively traded index options at CBOE. QQQ volume reached 2,268,746 contracts (1,293,841 calls and 974,905 puts) for the month of September. During the week of September 17, the QQQ notched three of its top ten record trading days.

Volume in CBOE's exchange traded fund (ETF) products notched impressive volume figures in September. For the month, volume in all ETFs traded at CBOE totaled 2,400,331 contracts (1,338,109 calls and 1,062,222 puts). And, total ETF volume set a weekly volume record for the week of September 17 when 1,126,388 contracts traded. Four of the week's five days fell in the list of its top ten all-time record trading days.

The iShares^SM S&P 100® Index Fund (OEF) volume was 1,709 options contracts (1,442 calls and 267 puts) traded in September. On Wednesday, September 19, OEF shares recorded their third largest single-day of trading when 314,100 shares traded.

Options on the Dow Jones Industrial Average^SM (DJX) posted incredible gains at CBOE in September. DJX volume increased 457% to 1,165,844 contracts (339,782 calls and 826,062 puts), up from 209,338 contracts in September 2000.

Trading in S&P 500® Index options (SPX^TM) totaled 2,096,173 contracts (752,447 calls and 1,343,726 puts), an increase of 22% over the September 2000 volume of 1,722,364 contracts. For the week of September 17, SPX had an average daily volume of 180,719 contracts, which was the second best average daily volume week in the product's history, falling just shy of the record 185,824 average daily volume for the week of November 17, 1997.

Trading volume for the month of September in S&P 100® Index options (OEX®) was 968,939 contracts (447,584 calls and 521,355 puts), an increase of 6% over last September's total of 918,702 contracts traded. During the week of September 17, OEX had three of its top ten trading days for this year: 142,404 on September 19 (#1); 131,716 on September 21 (#3) and 107,913 on September 20 (#10). On July 23, CBOE launched the XEOSM, a new S&P 100® Index option with European-style exercise. XEO volume totaled 14,868 contracts (7,262 calls and 7,606 puts) for the month and set a single-day trading record on September 19 when 5,852 contracts traded.

Trading in the Mini-NDX (MNX^SM), a popular index product based on one-tenth the value of the Nasdaq-100 Index®, for the month of September was 526,075 contracts (299,578 calls and 226,497 puts) traded, representing an increase of 104% over the September 2000 total of 257,626 contracts traded.

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, access the CBOE site on the World Wide Web at http://www.cboe.com.