The International Securities Exchange (NYSE: ISE) said today that its 2 billionth options contract was traded on Friday, March 9, 2007. This trade, which was in the Nasdaq-100® Trust Shares (QQQQ), took place between Penson Financial Services, Inc. and Ronin Capital, LLC. ISE traded its 1.5 billionth contract less than one year ago on May 16, 2006 and its 1.0 billionth contract on May 25, 2005. ISE’s options exchange first began trading on May 26, 2000.
David Krell, President and Chief Executive Officer of ISE, noted “Our options exchange continues to grow at a very rapid pace, and we are gratified to have reached another volume milestone. Looking ahead, we expect continued growth of the industry as investors benefit from the use of options as a risk management tool.”
ISE recently set a new record daily trading volume of 5,531,875 equity and index options contracts on Tuesday, February 27, 2007. The options industry also set an overall volume record on that day when 18,281,667 contracts changed hands, according to The Options Clearing Corporation.
