February Volume At CBOE Increased 48%; Volume Gain Posted For Sixth Consecutive Month

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) announced today that February volume totaled 27,535,271 contracts traded, an increase of 48% over the February 2003 volume of 18,606,096 contracts. This was the sixth consecutive month that CBOE registered volume gains over year-ago levels.

Exchange Volume, February 2004

Total Volume

27,535,271 contracts
+48% vs year-ago (Feb 03)
19% vs previous month (Jan 04)

Average Daily Volume

1,449,225 contracts
+48% vs year-ago (Feb 03)
-15% vs previous month (Jan 04)

Open Interest

116,191,365 contracts
+42% vs year-ago (Feb 03)
+8% vs previous month (Jan 04)

February highlights at CBOE included:

Volume in stock option classes (equities) rose 92% in February as nearly 19 million contracts traded. CBOE lists options on 1,365 individual equities.
February marked the sixth consecutive month that equity option volume at CBOE experienced an increase over the year-ago total.
The top five stock option classes traded at CBOE during February were AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. (AWE), Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO), Microsoft Corporation (MSFT), Intel Corporation (INTC), and El Paso Corporation (EP).
Options on the S&P 500 Index (SPX) were the most-actively traded index options at CBOE during February as volume totaled 2,860,851 contracts, an increase of 5% over 2003.
Volume in options on the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) increased 149% in February. This was the sixth consecutive month -- and tenth time in the last twelve months -- which NDX options volume rose over year-ago levels.
Through the end of February, 584 classes were trading on CBOE's Hybrid Trading System.
CBOE, regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is the creator of listed options, and the world's largest options marketplace. For additional information about the CBOE and its products, access the CBOE website at http://www.cboe.com/