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Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE), a leading global provider of data, technology, and market infrastructure, today announced record open interest (OI) across its global commodity and energy futures and options markets, with record volume in oil options.
On March 15, 2023, ICE hit record OI of 51.1 million contracts across commodities futures and options, up 10% since the start of the year, as well as record OI in energy futures and options of 47 million. Across ICE’s global oil markets, OI is up 18% since the start of the year at 11.37 million contracts, with OI in Brent futures and options up 28% at 4.98 million contracts.
On March 15, 2023, a record 567,731 oil option contracts traded on ICE, including a record 513,567 Brent options. Both records were last set three years ago on March 9, 2020. Brent is used to price an estimated 80% of oil traded on the global market and is the most liquid crude oil futures and options market in the world.
Elsewhere in the oil portfolio, Gasoil, where OI is up 19% since the start of the year, saw 308,400 tons of diesel headed for delivery to North-West Europe at its most recent expiry, the highest since November 2021. Other ICE oil benchmarks performing strongly since the start of the year include ICE Dubai (Platts) where OI is up 9%, with ADV of 55,000 contracts, up 33% year-over-year (y/y); Murban where OI is up 16% at 47,300 contracts, with ADV of 8,400 contracts, up 77% y/y; Midland WTI (HOU) where OI has grown to 14,000 contracts with ADV of 4,700; and Wet Freight, which is used to manage price risk associated with shipping oil, up 7% in OI at 158,100 contracts and ADV up 27%.
“The increase in trading activity across ICE’s markets reflects the breadth of ICE’s commodity benchmarks, with customers utilizing our liquidity and transparency to hedge their risk,” said Jeff Barbuto, Global Head of Oil Markets at ICE. “The resilience of ICE Brent through the shocks the market witnessed last year, and its outperformance this year versus other oil benchmarks, shows how the market depends on its ability to reflect global fundamentals.”
Meanwhile, OI across ICE's global natural gas futures and options portfolio is up 9% since the start of the year at 30.4 million contracts, with OI across North American natural gas futures and options, which includes Henry Hub and U.S. Basis Markets contracts, up 8% at 27.8 million. OI in ICE TTF natural gas futures and options is up 29% since the start of the year at 2 million contracts, with ICE seeing the first trades this week in TTF Calendar Year 2031.
Across ICE’s global environmental complex, which alongside ICE’s energy markets provides price signals and liquidity to help companies transition to alternative forms of energy, OI is up 16% since the start of the year at 1.9 million contracts.
