The Options Industry Council (OIC) announced today that 401,726,200 total options contracts traded in October, which is 23.86 percent more than the previous October when 324,329,913 contracts were traded.
October marks just the fourth time in history total monthly volume exceeded 400 million contracts, and the first time since August 2011. Average daily volume for the month came in at 17,466,356 contracts, up 13.09 percent compared to last October’s 15,444,282 contracts—a month shortened by two trading days due to Super Storm Sandy. Year-to-date volume stood at 3,476,600,927 contracts, 3.60 percent more than the 3,355,815,364 contracts traded in the same period last year.
Equity options volume (options on individual stocks and ETFs) for October was 360,729,625 contracts, up 21.05 percent compared to October of last year when 297,991,460 contracts traded. Average daily volume for equity options in October came in at 15,683,897 contracts, 10.53 percent more compared to the 14,190,070 average contracts per day in October 2012.
Year-to-date equity options volume stood at 3,147,981,421 contracts, which is 1.81 more than the 3,092,072,202 contracts exchanged in the same period last year.
