Eurex Sets New Standards - Over 300 Million Contracts Traded In 10 Months

Eurex, the European derivatives market, is posting further increases in turnover, with over 34 rnillion contracts traded again in October, about 8.6 million more than in the same month of last year. Total trading volume for the first 10 months of 1999 exceeded 315 million contracts, which means that the derivatives market has broken through a "sound barrier" after 10 months of trading this year: Never before have rnore than 300 million derivatives contracts been traded on an exchange in a single business year. The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) set the previous record of about 280 million contracts in 1998. The BUND future was the most active product at Eurex in October, with about 12.0 million contracts traded, an increase of roughly 21.3 percent over the number traded in the same month of last year. The BUND future was also the world's most heavily traded futures contract for another month in a row. Trading in options on the BUND future was also extremely active again in October. With about 2.7 million contracts traded, Eurex achieved its second-best performance on a monthly basis so far (July 1999: 2.9 million contracts). Compared with October 1998, trading volume more than doubled. High volumes were posted in the futures on the BOBL and SCHATZ again in October. The BOBL future, with 5.3 million contracts traded, showed a 59.5 percent increase over the October 1998 figure. Trading in the SCHATZ future, with about 2.6 million contracts traded in October, set a new record on a monthly basis. The increase over the volume posted in October 1998 exceeds 200 percent. The level of trading in Dow-Jones Euro STOXX 50 products is still high. The derivatives market shows turnover of 915,063 contracts in the futures and options for October 1999.