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The Options Industry Council (OIC) announced today that 349,463,168 total options contracts changed hands in February, 1.34 percent less than the 354,214,236 contracts traded in February 2011.
Average daily trading volume in February was 17,473,158 contracts, 6.27 percent lower than the 18,642,854 contracts in the same year ago period. Year-to-date volume for February stood at 684,863,167 contracts, which is 6.53 percent lower than the 732,694,742 contracts traded at the same point last year.
Equity options volume (options on individual stocks and ETFs) for February came in at 323,293,320 contracts, down 2.61 percent compared to February of last year when 331,962,409 contracts were exchanged. On average, 16,164,666 contracts changed hands each day in February, which is 7.48 percent lower than the daily average from the previous February of 17,471,706 contracts. Equity options year-to-date volume came in at 636,656,337 contracts, down 7.3 percent compared to the 686,757,923 contracts traded throughout the same period last year
