The International Securities Exchange (NYSE:ISE) today reported that average daily trading volume for equity and index options contracts for November 2006 increased 22.2% to 2.5 million contracts as compared to 2.1 million contracts during the same period in 2005. Total equity and index options volume for the month increased 22.2% to 52.7 million contracts from 43.1 million contracts in the same year-ago period.
On a year-to-date basis, average daily trading volume of equity and index options increased 33.5% to 2.4 million contracts traded as compared to 1.8 million contracts traded in the prior year. Total year-to-date equity and index volume through November 2006 increased 33.5% to 548.8 million contracts from 411.0 million contracts in the same period last year.
Equity and Index Options Volume Statistics
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Current Month Year-to-Date
(000s) Nov-06 Nov-05 % Change Nov-06 Nov-05 % Change
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ISE
Average
Daily
Volume 2,510.2 2,053.8 22.2% 2,375.7 1,779.1 33.5%
ISE Total
Volume 52,714.5 43,129.2 22.2% 548,793.5 410,964.8 33.5%
Industry
Average
Daily
Volume 8,805.5 7,107.9 23.9% 8,042.6 5,917.0 35.9%
Market
Share 28.5% 28.9% (0.4) pts 29.5% 30.1% (0.6) pts
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Market
Share:
Customer 30.3% 30.3% 0 pts 30.1% 30.3% (0.2) pts
Market
Share:
Firm 23.4% 22.5% 0.9 pts 25.5% 22.4% 3.1 pts
Market
Share:
Market
Maker 28.7% 29.4% (0.7) pts 30.3% 31.9% (1.6) pts
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Equity Options Volume Statistics
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Current Month Year-to-Date
(000s) Nov-06 Nov-05 % Change Nov-06 Nov-05 % Change
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ISE
Average
Daily
Volume 2,475.4 2,029.3 22.0% 2,342.8 1,761.7 33.0%
ISE Total
Volume 51,982.8 42,615.7 22.0% 541,179.3 406,952.3 33.0%
Industry
Average
Daily
Volume 8,020.6 6,485.6 23.7% 7,311.8 5,381.3 35.9%
Market
Share 30.9% 31.3% (0.4) pts 32.0% 32.7% (0.7) pts
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Market
Share:
Customer 32.7% 32.8% (0.1) pts 32.4% 32.7% (0.3) pts
Market
Share:
Firm 25.9% 25.0% 0.9 pts 28.3% 25.1% 3.2 pts
Market
Share:
Market
Maker 31.0% 31.7% (0.7) pts 32.9% 34.8% (1.9) pts
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Index Options Volume Statistics
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Current Month Year-to-Date
(000s) Nov-06 Nov-05 % Change Nov-06 Nov-05 % Change
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ISE
Average
Daily
Volume 34.8 24.5 42.5% 33.0 17.4 89.8%
ISE Total
Volume 731.7 513.5 42.5% 7,614.2 4,012.5 89.8%
Industry
Average
Daily
Volume 784.9 622.3 26.1% 730.8 535.6 36.4%
Market
Share 4.4% 3.9% 0.5 pts 4.5% 3.2% 1.3 pts
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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 November would increase to 32.6% from 30.9%, an increase of 1.7 market share points.
On a year-to-date basis, our market share would increase to 33.1% from 32.0%, an increase of 1.1 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 November.
- On November 2, 2006, ISE announced that it filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York seeking to end the exclusive listing of certain index options. ISE has asked the District Court to issue a declaratory judgment holding that ISE does not need a license to list index options on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (Ticker: DJX) and S&P 500 Index (Ticker: SPX). Currently, these two actively-traded index options trade exclusively on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) pursuant to licensing agreements between CBOE and Dow Jones & Company, the provider of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., the provider of the S&P 500 Index.
- On November 9, 2006, ISE declared a quarterly dividend of $0.05 per outstanding share of its Class A Common Stock, payable on December 29, 2006 to holders of record as of the close of business on December 22, 2006.
- On November 20, 2006, ISE began disseminating the underlying rates for ISE FX Options(TM), its foreign currency options product scheduled for launch in 2007, pending regulatory approval. Rates are now available for the four currency pairs that ISE will initially list: USD/EUR (Symbol: EUI), USD/GBP (Symbol: BPX), USD/JPY (Symbol: YUK), and USD/CAD (Symbol: CDD).
- On November 27, 2006, ISE announced that the ISE Stock Exchange will introduce its fully-displayed stock market on Friday, December 8, 2006.
- Average daily trading volume in ISE's Second Market for options has grown to approximately 35,000 contracts since its launch on October 16, 2006. Second Market symbols now trade an aggregate of 55% more volume across all exchanges than in the three months prior to ISE listing these names.
- ISE traded more volume than any other options exchange in 768 of 1291 issues in its listings.
