Total option volume at the CBOE hit a new year-to-date record for end of May of 146,542,013 contracts (96,786,390 calls and 49,755,623 puts) which is 55.3% ahead of the previous year-to-date record of 94,345,286 contracts, set at the end of May, 1999.
During the month of May, a total of 25,732,520 option contracts (16,174,154 calls and 9,558,366 puts) changed hands at the CBOE, a 44.2% increase over the year ago May volume of 17,843,141 contracts. Open interest in all CBOE listed options stood at 41,664,926 at month's end, 84.8% more than the close of May last year.
Year-to-date volume in stock options reached a record 123,659,527 contracts (86,807,174 calls and 36,852,353 puts), an increase of 74.7% over the previous record of 70,767,728, set at the end of May 1999. During the month of May a total of 21,676,699 stock option contracts (14,399,685 calls and 7,277,014 puts) traded, an increase of 62.7% over May 1999's volume of 13,322,415 contracts. Open interest in stock options stood at 37,589,662 contracts (23,379,870 calls and 14,209,792 puts) at the end of May, an increase of 103.5% over the close of May 1999.
Options on Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO) were the volume leader for equity options at CBOE, with average daily volume of 53,520 contracts (equivalent to 5.35 million shares per day). Other volume leaders at CBOE were options on Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) with 36,236 contracts; America Online, Inc. (AOL) with 34,100 contracts and General Motors Corporation (GM) with 32,643 contracts.
Total index option volume for May at CBOE was 4,052,980 contracts (1,772,844 calls and 2,280,136 puts) compared to 4,514,728 contracts in May 1999. Trading in S&P 500® Index options (SPX) reached 1,931,559 contracts (842,798 calls and 1,088,761 puts) and open interest stood at 2,080,553. Trading volume for the month of May in the S&P 100® Index options (OEX) was 1,357,886 contracts (621,737 calls and 736,149 puts). Open interest in OEX options stood at 227,298 contracts at the end of May.
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.
