Due to the introduction of liquidity-boosting measures since July 1, the Eurex share of Dutch equity option contracts increased to up to 15 percent after only one week, before that it was about 3 percent. Eurex already accounts for up to 59 percent of the trading in Unilever equity options and as much as 55 percent in Royal Dutch Shell options. In options on ABN-Amro and Philips, Eurex has increased its share of the market to 20 percent and 30 percent, respectively.
Since July 1, Eurex has made trading in Dutch equity options more attractive in its market and substantially increased the liquidity in Dutch products as a result. Market makers continuously quote prices in their order book. The maximum term to expiration for Dutch equity options was extended to 60 months, the minimum price movement (tick size) of one eurocent still applies, which offers participants the most efficient hedging possibilities in trading. Moreover, on July 1, Eurex launched 14 new equity options on Dutch shares. With the launch of these new options, a total of 23 Dutch equity options are now tradable at Eurex. This makes Eurex the only exchange on which contracts in all of the Dutch blue chips can be traded electronically.
