Eurex Introduces Longer Terms For The Most Liquid Equity Options - Tradable For Up To 60 Months

Eurex, the international derivatives market, has introduced longer maximum terms for the expiration of some equity options and equity index options. With effect from March 18, the derivatives market extended the expiration terms for equity options in Group A from nine months to a maximum of 12 months, from 12 to 24 months in Group B and from 24 to 60 months in Group C. In the case of options on the Nemax 50 index, the maximum lifetime was raised from 24 to 36 months.

Eurex is introducing the new rule for expirations in response to the participants' growing need for longer-term options. This also meets the market's interest in having longer-running equity and index options in the over-the-counter (OTC) market, as Eurex pointed out. Eurex, the world market leader, is thus underscoring the growing importance of this product category. Eurex is the most liquid market for European equity options. The market interest in options on European equities is still rising steadily: A total volume of more than 36 million equity options contracts have already been traded at Eurex this year, which is about 25 percent higher than the volume traded during the same period of last year.