Philadelphia Stock Exchange Continues to Set Equity and Options Volume Significant Growth in Options Market Share

The Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX) announced today that equity options volume for the month of October 2000 set a new monthly volume record of 9,329,998 contracts traded, a 160 percent increase over the same month last year when 3,578,644 contracts changed hands. In addition, year-to-date equity options volume set a new record of 54,892,004 contracts traded. This represents a 51 percent increase over the first ten months of 1999, the previous record, when 36,333,330 contracts traded. During the month of October 2000, the PHLX also realized a 16 percent increase in its equity options market share, leading the U.S. options exchanges in greatest percentage of growth.

Equity volume for the month for the month of October 2000 reached 261,067,547 shares traded, a 24 percent increase over October 1999 when 116,303,325 changed hands. In addition, during the first ten months of 2000, PHLX traded a record of approximately 1.8 billion shares an increase of 45 percent in comparison to the same period last year when 1,299,712,461 shares changed hands. The PHLX currently trades 2,300 equities.

Volume in the PHLX's eleven sectors index options during the first ten months of 2000 reached a new record of 3,118,154 contracts traded, an increase of 15 percent over the first ten months of 1999 when 2,722,259 contracts traded. PHLX currently lists options on eleven sectors: Computer Box Maker Sector, Forest and Paper Sector, Gold/Silver Sector, National Over-the-Counter Sector, Oil Service Sector, OTC Prime Service Sector, PHLX/KBW Bank Sector, TheStreet.com Internet Sector, Semiconductor Sector, Utility Sector and Wireless Telecom Sector.

Volume in the PHLX's customized and standardized currency options reached 382,893 contracts traded for the first ten months of the year for an underlying value of approximately $17 billion.

The PHLX trades more than 2,300 stocks, nearly 800 equity options, 11 sectors index options and 100 currency pairs. Founded in 1790, the PHLX is the nation's first securities exchange.