PHLX Post Volume Increase In America Online

The Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX) announced on June 30 that a record 177,417 America Online (AOL) options contracts traded on the options floor at the PHLX on June 29. This is in comparison to the average daily volume in America Online equity options for the month of May of approximately 45,000 contracts.

America Online is one of the most active PHLX equity options classes trading approximately 3 million contracts year-to-date and is one of the top 10 most actively traded equity options in the industry.

Equity options volume for the month of May 2000 reached 4,504,707 contracts traded, a 21% increase over May 1999 when 3,723,959 contracts changed hands. In addition, during the first five months of 2000, PHLX traded a record of 23,443,457 equity option contracts, an increase of 22% in comparison to the same period last year when 19,257,535 contracts changed hands.

The PHLX is the first securities exchange in the U.S. and the nation's fastest growing sectors index options exchange. Founded in 1790, PHLX is a market leader in the trading of over 2,600 stocks, 769 equity options, eleven sectors index options, and 100 currency pairs.