The International Securities Exchange (NYSE:ISE) today reported that average daily trading volume for equity and index options contracts for March 2007 increased 32.4% to a record 2.8 million contracts as compared to 2.1 million contracts during the same period in 2006. Total equity and index options volume for the month increased 26.7% to 62.3 million contracts from 49.2 million contracts in the same year-ago period.
On a year-to-date basis, average daily trading volume of equity and index options increased 16.3% to 2.8 million contracts traded as compared to 2.4 million contracts traded in the prior year. Total year-to-date equity and index volume through March 2007 increased 14.5% to 169.2 million contracts from 147.8 million contracts in the same period last year.
Equity and Index Options Volume Statistics
Current Month Year-to-Date
(000s) Mar-07 Mar-06 % Change Mar-07 Mar-06 % Change
------------ --------------------------- -----------------------------
ISE Average
Daily
Volume 2,833.0 2,139.2 32.4% 2,773.7 2,384.1 16.3%
ISE Total
Volume 62,326.4 49,202.3 26.7% 169,194.4 147,815.1 14.5%
Industry
Average
Daily
Volume 10,390.2 7,137.2 45.6% 9,990.0 7,827.7 27.6%
Market Share 27.3% 30.0% (2.7)pts 27.8% 30.5% (2.7)pts
------------ --------------------------- -----------------------------
Market
Share:
Customer 28.9% 31.7% (2.8)pts 29.4% 32.1% (2.7)pts
Market
Share: Firm 23.0% 24.2% (1.2)pts 23.6% 24.9% (1.3)pts
Market
Share:
Market
Maker 27.4% 30.3% (2.9)pts 27.9% 30.6% (2.7)pts
------------ --------------------------- -----------------------------
Equity Options Volume Statistics
Current Month Year-to-Date
(000s) Mar-07 Mar-06 % Change Mar-07 Mar-06 % Change
------------ --------------------------- -----------------------------
ISE Average
Daily
Volume 2,783.1 2,115.1 31.6% 2,728.3 2,356.4 15.8%
ISE Total
Volume 61,228.6 48,646.5 25.9% 166,426.8 146,095.3 13.9%
Industry
Average
Daily
Volume 9,201.6 6,548.9 40.5% 9,033.4 7,201.7 25.4%
Market Share 30.2% 32.3% (2.1)pts 30.2% 32.7% (2.5)pts
------------ --------------------------- -----------------------------
Market
Share:
Customer 32.0% 34.0% (2.0)pts 32.0% 34.2% (2.2)pts
Market
Share: Firm 26.0% 26.8% (0.8)pts 25.9% 27.6% (1.7)pts
Market
Share:
Market
Maker 30.2% 32.5% (2.3)pts 30.2% 32.8% (2.6)pts
------------ --------------------------- -----------------------------
Index Options Volume Statistics
Current Month Year-to-Date
(000s) Mar-07 Mar-06 % Change Mar-07 Mar-06 % Change
---------------- ------------------------- ---------------------------
ISE Average
Daily Volume 49.9 24.2 106.5% 45.4 27.7 63.6%
ISE Total Volume 1,097.8 555.8 97.5% 2,767.6 1,719.8 60.9%
Industry Average
Daily Volume 1,188.6 588.4 102.0% 956.6 625.9 52.8%
Market Share 4.2% 4.1% 0.1pts 4.7% 4.4% 0.3pts
---------------- ------------------------- ---------------------------
Dividend Trade Activity
Our market share statistics continue to be negatively impacted by trading activity related to dividend trades among certain options market makers. These trades temporarily inflate and distort trading volume and market share when transacted. If the volume from the largest dividend trades were excluded from the data, our market share of equity options for the month of March would increase to 30.8% from 30.2%, an increase of 0.6 market share points.
On a year-to-date basis, our market share would increase to 31.5% from 30.2%, an increase of 1.3 market share points, if the volume from the largest dividend trades were excluded. The exclusion of dividend trades from total industry volume data presents a more relevant measure of the relative trends in our business.
Monthly Highlights
-- ISE was the largest U.S. equity options exchange in March.
-- On March 5, 2007, ISE and TSX Group announced the creation of
DEX(TM), a new Canadian derivatives exchange. DEX, which is
scheduled to begin operations in March 2009, will be owned 52%
by TSX Group and 48% by ISE and will list and trade options,
futures and options on futures on a range of Canadian
securities.
-- On March 9, 2007, ISE traded its 2 billionth options contract.
This trade, which was in the Nasdaq-100(R) Trust Shares
(QQQQ), took place between Penson Financial Services, Inc. and
Ronin Capital, LLC.
-- On March 27, 2007, ISE announced a partnership with
Optionetics, Inc., a recognized leader in options education,
in a joint effort to educate retail investors about ISE FX
Options(TM). Optionetics will incorporate information and
trading strategies for ISE FX Options into its two-day seminar
series Trading the Foreign Exchange Markets, which are
executed by its affiliate FX Trading Education Corp. (FXTE).
-- On March 28, 2007, ISE announced that Timber Hill LLC, the
market making subsidiary of Interactive Brokers, will serve as
the Primary Market Maker (PMM(R)) for the first four currency
pairs of ISE FX Options that will be listed on the Exchange.
Additionally, Citigroup Derivatives Markets Inc., Lehman
Brothers Inc., and Optiver US, LLC will act as Competitive
Market Makers (CMMs(R)) in a variety of the products. Trading
will initially take place in the following four currency
pairs: USD/EUR (Symbol: EUI), USD/GBP (Symbol: BPX), USD/JPY
(Symbol: YUK), and USD/CAD (Symbol: CDD).
-- ISE traded more volume than any other options exchange in 899
of 1,721 issues in its listings.
