Philadelphia Stock Exchange Equities And Options Post Record Volume

The Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX) announced today that its equity option volume for the month of August reached a record 5,923,531 contracts traded. This represents a 61% increase over the same month last year when 3,680,056 contracts changed hands and a 9% increase over the previous record volume month set in March, 2000 when 5,450,551 contracts changed hands. In addition, year-to-date equity options volume reached a record of 39,422,282 contracts traded, a 35% increase over the first eight months of 1999 when 29,270,258 contracts traded.

Equity volume for the month of August 2000 reached 139,386,878 shares traded, a 38% increase over August 1999, when 101,015,335 shares changed hands. In addition, during the first eight months of 2000, PHLX traded a record of over 1.4 billion shares, an increase of 35% in comparison to the same period last year when 1,080,755,326 shares changed hands. The PHLX currently trades approximately 2,300 equities.

Volume in the PHLX's eleven sectors index options during the first eight months of 2000 reached a record of 2,415,277 contracts traded, an increase of 18% over the first eight months of 1999 when 2,042,410 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 Sector, PHLX/KBW Bank Sector, TheStreet.com Internet Sector, Semiconductor Sector, Utility Sector, and the Wireless Telecom Sector.

Volume in PHLX's customized and standardized currency options reached 315,499 contracts traded during the first eight months of the year for an underlying value of approximately $14 billion.

The PHLX is the first securities exchange in the U.S. and the nation's fastest growing sectors index option exchange. Founded in 1790, PHLX is a market leader in the trading of over 2,300 stocks, 790 equity options, eleven sectors index options and 100 currency pairs.