The crude oil options volume of 119,258 contracts marked the second session in a row that a record was set, with the 83,142 contracts traded this past Friday surpassing the 81,622 contracts traded on March 26, 1998.
Total Exchange options volume was 176,983 contracts, which topped the previous record of 160,913 contracts set on October 12, 2000. NYMEX Division options trading volume totaled 165,291 contracts, breaking the record of 142,761 contracts also set on October 12, 2000.
Exchange President J. Robert Collins, Jr., said, "The back-to-back records in crude oil options volume, and the new Exchange-wide and NYMEX Division trading marks are a continuing affirmation of the value that market participants place on these instruments as liquid, transparent means of managing price risk without exposure to counterparty credit risk."
