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The Options Industry Council (OIC) announced today that 294,983,521 total options contracts were traded in December, representing a 33.26 percent increase over December 2008 volume of 221,367,212 contracts.
Additionally, total options trading volume for 2009 was 3,612,637,118 contracts. This surpasses 2008’s record year by 0.84 percent which saw 3,582,572,581 total options contracts change hands. Equity options volume reached 3,366,967,321 contracts, 2.5 percent higher than the 3,284,761,345 contracts traded in 2008.
The volume in 2009 marks the seventh consecutive year a new annual trading volume record has been set, and the 16th time this has occurred in the last 17 years.
The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) also reported these volume highlights for the month of December:- December equity options volume was 273,792,997 contracts, a 34.52 percent increase from 203,530,235 contracts in December 2008.
- December average daily total options volume was 13,408,342 contracts vs. 10,062,146 contracts in December 2008, 33.26 percent higher.
- Month-end open interest for December 2009 was 273,921,029 contracts vs. December 2008 with 251,616,499 contracts, an 8.86 percent increase.
A Review of 2009 Records
In addition to hitting new annual volume records, these records were set last year.- Highest single trading day ever for equity options: March 19 with 27,325,694 contracts
- Highest single trading day in 2009 for total options: March 19 with 28,741,004 contracts
- Average daily total options volume: 14,335,861
- Average daily equity options volume: 13,360,981
- Options premium: $1.22 trillion, down from $1.9 trillion in 2008 as prices to buy options came down from the peaks seen at the height of the financial crisis.
More details on historical options trading data are available at www.optionseducation.org
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