Listings & Volume Growth
ISE's product list has grown to 475 issues, including recent additions Burlington Resources, Automatic Data Processing and FuelCell Energy. ISE was the primary market, as represented by volume, in 122 of its issues in February. The current list of issues traded is always available on our web site (www.iseoptions.com) within the section entitled "Product Information." ISE intends to list the top equity options representing approximately 90% of the U.S equity options market by volume; total industry volume in the current listings comprise approximately 88% of the market.
The Exchange has clearly established its position as the third largest of the five U.S. options exchanges, having occupied this rank for the past five month period.
ISE's average daily volume during February was 541,512 contracts, an increase of 52% from November's (3 months prior) average volume of 357,268 contracts and an increase of 106% from August's (6 months prior) average volume of 263,518 contracts.
ISE's market share in its listed products averaged 21% for the month, up from 19% in January, while its market share in all listed equity options averaged 18.6%, up from 16.8% the previous month. The advantages of ISE's unparalleled market structure and trading system continue to fuel this expansion, as more Electronic Access Members (EAMs) experience these benefits on behalf of their customers.
In addition to the absolute ISE volume increases, the percent of volume from customer (non-professional) transactions is also expanding. An increasing number of EAMs have designated ISE as the primary market in several issues through their order routing systems.
Membership
On February 8, ISE approved the sale of a CMM membership in Bin 9 for $1.6 million. This follows CMM sale approvals last year (in three different bins), two at $1.6 million and one at $1.1 million. These are further indications of the industry's strong support for ISE's market structure and methodology.
