ISE Reports Monthly Volume For August 2009

The International Securities Exchange (ISE) today reported average daily volume of 3.7 million contracts in August 2009.

Average daily trading volume for all options contracts increased 6.8% to 3.7 million contracts in August as compared to 3.5 million contracts during the same period in 2008. Total options volume for the month increased 6.8% to 78.4 million contracts from 73.3 million contracts in the same year-ago period.

On a year-to-date basis, average daily trading volume of all options decreased 0.4% to 4.0 million contracts traded. Total year-to-date options volume through August 2009 decreased 1.0% to 673.8 million contracts from 680.4 million contracts in the same period last year.

Total Options Volume (Equity, ETF, Index and FX Options)

	Current Month			Year-to-Date
(000s)	Aug-09	Aug-08	% Change	Aug-09	Aug-08	% Change
ISE Average Daily Volume	3,731.1	3,492.3	6.8%	4,034.8	4,049.9	-0.4%
ISE Total Volume	78,353.7	73,337.8	6.8%	673,814.2	680,377.9	-1.0%
Industry Average Daily Volume	13,631.9	12,543.1	8.7%	14,415.3	14,082.5	2.4%
Market Share	27.4%	27.8%	(0.4) pts	28.0%	28.8%	(0.8) pts
Market Share: Customer	29.6%	30.1%	(0.5) pts	30.1%	30.5%	(0.4) pts
Market Share: Firm	23.8%	29.9%	(6.1) pts	25.6%	31.5%	(5.9) pts
Market Share: Market Maker	26.2%	25.3%	0.9 pts	26.9%	26.4%	0.5 pts

Equity and ETF Options Volume Statistics

	Current Month			Year-to-Date
(000s)	Aug-09	Aug-08	% Change	Aug-09	Aug-08	% Change
ISE Average Daily Volume	3,675.7	3,412.4	7.7%	3,980.3	3,971.6	0.2%
ISE Total Volume	77,188.8	71,660.9	7.7%	664,702.3	667,235.3	-0.4%
Industry Average Daily Volume	12,710.1	11,503.8	10.5%	13,471.2	12,975.2	3.8%
Market Share	28.9%	29.7%	(0.8) pts	29.5%	30.6%	(1.1) pts
Market Share: Customer	31.0%	32.0%	(1.0) pts	31.5%	32.4%	(0.9) pts
Market Share: Firm	26.3%	32.5%	(6.2) pts	27.6%	34.2%	(6.6) pts
Market Share: Market Maker	27.6%	26.8%	0.8 pts	28.4%	28.0%	0.4 pts

Index Options Volume Statistics

	Current Month			Year-to-Date
(000s)	Aug-09	Aug-08	% Change	Aug-09	Aug-08	% Change
ISE Average Daily Volume	54.7	74.0	-26.1%	53.2	71.2	-25.3%
ISE Total Volume	1,149.3	1,554.3	-26.1%	8,882.0	11,957.3	-25.7%
Industry Average Daily Volume	921.0	1,033.5	-10.9%	942.7	1,100.2	-14.3%
Market Share	5.9%	7.2%	(1.3) pts	5.6%	6.5%	(0.9) pts

ISE FX Options® Volume Statistics

	Current Month			Year-to-Date
(000s)	Aug-09	Aug-08	% Change	Aug-09	Aug-08	% Change
ISE Average Daily Volume	0.7	5.8	-87.9%	1.4	7.1	-80.3%
ISE Total Volume	15.5	122.5	-87.3%	229.9	1,185.4	-80.6%

ISE's market share statistics continue to be negatively impacted by trading strategies that are permitted based on a non-economic rationale. These strategies include dividend trades and synthetic short interest trades. These trades temporarily inflate and distort trading volume and market share when transacted.

Monthly Highlights

ISE was the largest U.S. equity options exchange in August 2009.
On August 3, 2009, ISE launched options trading on the New Zealand dollar (Symbol: NZD), Mexican peso (Symbol: PZO) and Swedish krona (Symbol: SKA). Timber Hill is the Primary Market Maker for these new ISE FX Options® products.
On August 4, 2009, ISE and Weather Risk Solutions, LLC (WRS), the developer of Hurricane Risk Landfall Options (HuRLO™), announced that they entered into a strategic agreement. ISE received a minority interest in WRS in return for granting WRS the right to use ISE's proprietary Longitude intellectual property.
On August 24, 2009, ISE announced that it is now publishing monthly execution quality reports that follow the guidelines set forth by The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). Developed by SIFMA's Equity Options Trading Committee in close cooperation with the U.S. options exchanges, the voluntary program provides a uniform structure for market quality and best execution metrics in the options industry.
ISE traded more volume than any other options exchange in 1,158 of 2,075 issues in its listings.