Open interest on Eurex rose to a new record of over 113 million contracts for the first time. Open interest refers to the number of open positions in a future or options contract and is considered to be a key indicator of a derivatives market’s potential for sustainable future growth.
The fixed income derivatives segment remained the most successful segment in 2005, with a total of 661 million traded contracts, an increase of 15 percent on 2004's volumes (574 million contracts). The highest-turnover product was the Euro-Bund future with volume of some 300 million contracts, increasing 25 percent over the previous year's figure (240 million contracts). It topped the Euro-Schatz future, in which some 141 million contracts were traded (previous year: 123 million contracts, up 15 percent). Open interest in the Euro-Schatz contract has also risen 30 percent to 1.08 million since the introduction of half tick pricing in June 2005. Trading volume in the Euro-Bobl future was stable at 159 million contracts. The Euro-Buxl Future, which was successfully introduced in September, had a strong start with over 480,000 contracts traded in 2005.
In the equity-based products, Eurex volume increased by about 20 percent, to more than 590 million contracts traded, compared with 491 million contracts in 2004. The index products segment saw 20 percent growth in 2005 with 335 million contracts traded (2004: 279 million contracts). The future on the DJ Euro-STOXX 50 was the strongest in this segment, with 141 million contracts traded. The equity options segment turned over 256 million contracts, increasing by about 21 percent.
Extended U.S. afternoon trading on Eurex has seen a successful start since its introduction on November 21. Approximately 1 million contracts were traded during the extended trading hours in 2005. Eurex extended the trading day for its benchmark financial products until 4:00 p.m. New York time/ 3:00 p.m. Chicago time (10:00 p.m. Frankfurt time).
All of the turnover figures for the year 2005 are tentative; the turnover for the last six trading days of the year have been estimated.