CBOE Volume Up 6% In September - Volume, Open Interest At CBOE Futures Exchange Reach New Highs

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) announced today that September volume totaled 26,458,879 contracts traded, an increase of 6% over the September 2003 volume of 24,886,367 contracts. This was the thirteenth consecutive month that CBOEs volume posted gains over the year-ago levels.Through the end of September, CBOEs year-to-date volume of over 262 million contracts traded is 28% ahead of 2003s pace.

Exchange Volume, September 2004:

Total Volume
26,458,879 contracts
+6% vs year-ago(Sep 03)
-2% vs previous month(Aug 04, which had one more trading day)

Average Daily Volume
1,259,947 contracts
+6% vs year-ago(Sep 03)
+3% vs previous month(Aug 04)

Open Interest
142,908,670 contracts
+15% vs year-ago(Sep 03)
+2% vs previous month(Aug 04)

Year-To-Date Volume
262,307,723 contracts
+28% vs YTD 2003 September highlights at CBOE included:
During September, volume in index options rose 7% as over 10 million contracts traded, while volume in stock option classes (equities) increased 6% with over 16 million contracts traded.

Options on the S&P 500 Index (SPX) were the most-actively traded index options at CBOE during September as volume totalled 3,989,439 contracts, an increase of 27% over 2003.

The top five stock option classes traded at CBOE during September were: Intel Corp. (INTC), Taser International, Inc. (TASR), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), General Electric Co. (GE), and Citigroup, Inc. (C).

Total volume and open interest reached new highs during September at the CBOE Futures Exchange, which launched on March 26th.September volume totalled 14,261 contracts, an increase of 42% over the 10,059 contracts traded in August.Open interest at months end stood at 9,220 contracts.CFE also announced it will begin trading futures on the newly created CBOE China Index (CX) beginning Monday, October 18, 2004.

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, visit the CBOE website at: http://www.cboe.com/.