June's volume represents over 4,800,000 IWM shares traded, as each contract represents 100 shares of the underlying ETF. NQLX has a suite of iShares Russell ETF futures products in addition to three cash-settled futures on a suite of Russell 1000 products.
Early in 2003, a unique July contract was offered by NQLX as a way to manage the risks associated with the annual reconstitution of Russell's family of U.S. indices that occurred on June 30. Trading was also aided by attractive pricing in relation to the underlying ETF, the IWM. In April, 16,333 iShares Russell 2000 futures contracts were traded and 10,638 contracts traded in May.
Tom Ascher, NQLX CEO said, "Our Russell 2000 contract is becoming the risk management tool and trading vehicle for a growing range of market participants. 3,510 Russell 2000 contracts traded on July 1, demonstrating that volume has continued, post rebalancing of the index. We are encouraged by the heightened volume and will continue to nurture this market."
The Russell 2000, which accounts for 97 percent of institutional small cap assets, measures the performance of the 2,000 smallest companies in the Russell 3000® Index, which represents approximately 8 percent of the total market capitalization of the Russell 3000. Over $20 billion is indexed to the Russell 2000.
NQLX is a fully electronic, federally regulated exchange and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Euronext.liffe. It lists financial and security futures through Euronext.liffe's electronic trading platform, LIFFE CONNECT®. For more information on NQLX visit: www.nqlx.com.
