The Options Industry Council (OIC) announced today that total options trading volume in May came in at 314,799,038 options contracts, up 17.96 percent compared to May 2008 volume of 266,870,046 contracts.
Daily trading volume for May 2009 averaged 15,739,952 contracts compared to 12,708,097 contracts each day in May 2008, which equals a 23.86 percent increase. Year-to-date trading volume for May stood at 1,499,660,142 contracts compared to the same point last year when 1,432,175,576 contracts were traded, representing a 4.7 percent increase. Year-to-date trading volume averaged 14,702,551 contracts each day through May, 6.8 percent greater than the 13,770,919 contracts averaged each day for the same period last year.
OIC also reported that equity options volume in May came in at 296,098,407 contracts, an increase of 19.93 percent over the 246,899,892 contracts exchanged during the same period last year. Daily equity options volume had an average of 14,804,920 contracts per day in May, which is 25.92 percent more than the same period last year when 11,757,138 contracts were averaged each day. Year-to-date equity options stood at 1,401,314,361 contracts, representing an increase of 6.14 percent compared to the same point last year when 1,320,293,884 contracts were traded.