In the OTC business segment, average daily commissions for the months of October and November (shown in the chart below) reflect daily trading activity in ICE’s OTC markets. The significant year-over-year increases in commissions are attributable in part to increased trading in ICE’s cleared OTC products, including natural gas, power and crude oil, as well as growth in the number of participants transacting in ICE’s electronic OTC marketplace.
OTC Segment: Average Daily Commissions
| Oct. 2005 | Oct. 2004 | % Change | Nov. 2005 | Nov. 2004 | % Change | |
| ICE OTC Average Daily Commi- ssions | $328,196 | $225,477 | 45.6 | $359,311 | $219,887 | 63.4 |
At ICE Futures, the company’s futures business segment, average daily volume (ADV) in November 2005 increased 30.9% to 184,443 contracts compared to 140,882 contracts in November 2004. ADV in October 2005 was 183,127, up 23.6% over the ADV of 148,104 in October 2004. Total futures volume year-to-date through November 2005 was 16.4% higher than the year-ago period, with 38.4 million contracts traded compared to 33.0 million contracts last year. Total futures volume since the April 2005 electronic transition increased 23.0% compared to the same April through November period in 2004.
November’s volume growth in futures was led by the IPE Gas Oil futures contract, which grew 48.9% compared to November 2004. In addition, traded volume in the benchmark IPE Brent Crude futures contract increased 24.7% in November 2005 over November 2004. Volume increases were largely due to ICE Futures’ transition to exclusively electronic trading in April 2005, as well as the resulting expansion in distribution of ICE’s electronic markets to new market participants and increased activity by existing market participants.
At November 30, 2005, total open interest in ICE Futures contracts stood at 664,815 contracts, with open interest in Brent Crude futures contracts at 396,554. This compares to total open interest of 518,040 and Brent Crude Futures open interest of 329,656 at November 30, 2004.
Futures Segment: Volume Statistics
| Contract | ADV Nov 2005 | ADV Nov 2004 | ADV % Change | Total Volume Nov 2005 | Total Volume Nov 2004 |
| IPE Brent Crude futures | 127,144 | 101,926 | 24.7 | 2,797,16 | 2,242,365 |
| IPE Gas Oil futures | 53,466 | 35,914 | 48.9 | 1,176,255 | 790,111 |
| Other contracts* | 3,833 | 3,042 | 26.0 | 84,334 | 66,932 |
| Total ICE Futures | 184,443 | 140,882 | 30.9 | 4,057,749 | 3,099,408 |
* “Other contracts” include IPE Natural Gas Futures, IPE ECX CFI Futures, IPE Electricity futures and IPE Brent Options and IPE Gas Oil Options.
Monthly Highlights
• November volume for ICE Futures represented the third highest volume month in the exchange’s 25-year history. Each of the top three volume months has occurred since the transition to electronic trading in April.
• Over one million futures and options on futures contracts were traded during the week ending November 11, 2005, setting a new exchange record for weekly contract volume.
• At the end of November 2005, ICE Futures volume exceeded by 8.2% the full year volume record achieved in 2004.
• The ICE platform has scaled to manage significant increases in electronic messaging and transactions. In November 2005, over 3.6 million futures and OTC trades were conducted electronically on the ICE platform compared to 651,367 trades in November 2004, representing a 459% increase in the number of electronic trades executed on the ICE platform. This increase in electronic trades follows the complete transition of ICE’s futures markets to screen-based trading.
Additional historical futures volume and OTC commission data can be found at: Records and Volumes
