Nymex Sets Annual Trading Record

The New York Mercantile Exchange, Inc., today announced that trading volume through October 25 set an annual volume record of 110,010,434 futures and options contracts, exceeding the previous record of 109,538,831 contracts set in 1999.

In addition, as of October 25, annual records had already set in the following areas:

Total options volume of 21,982,424 contracts broke the previous record of 17,985,109 contracts set in 2001.
NYMEX Division futures and options volume of 95,780,583 contracts surpassed the previous record of 89,189,928 contracts set in 1999.
NYMEX Division futures volume of 75,874,028 contracts topped the volume record of 75,769,318 contracts set in 1999.
NYMEX Division options volume of 19,906,555 broke the previous annual record of 15,475,878 contracts set in 2001.
Energy futures and options volume of 95,576,453 contracts surpassed the record of 88,536,120 contracts set in 1999.
Energy futures volume of 75,670,265 contracts, exceeded the previous record of 75,126,566 set in 1999.
Energy options trading of 19,906,188 contracts broke the record of 15,474,065 contracts set in 2001.
Natural gas futures volume of 20,730,476 contracts exceeded the previous record of 19,165,096 contracts set in 1999.
Natural gas options volume has been setting new annual volume numbers since it topped the 2001 record of 5,974,240 contracts during the first six months of the year. As of October 25, volume stood at 9,436,153 contracts.
Light, sweet crude oil options volume of 9,313,842 contracts is well over the 1999 record of 8,161,976 contracts.

Exchange President J. Robert Collins, Jr., said, "These records, along with a 30% increase in overall trading volume over the same period last year and record seat values on the NYMEX Division, indicate the continued confidence of the energy and metals industries in our tried and true infrastructure and method of trading, as well as enthusiasm for the new products that were launched this year. Not evident in these numbers is over-the-counter clearing activity which, since its introduction on May 31, has seen more than $1.1 billion in trades cleared at the Exchange."