ISE Reports Monthly Volume For August 2008

The International Securities Exchange (ISE) today reported that in August 2008, its options exchange traded an average daily volume of 3.5 million contracts. The ISE Stock Exchange traded an average daily volume of 67.3 million shares in the same period.

Average daily trading volume for all options contracts decreased 2.2% to 3.5 million contracts in August as compared to 3.6 million contracts during the same period in 2007. Total options volume for the month decreased 10.7% to 73.3 million contracts from 82.1 million contracts in the same year-ago period.

On a year-to-date basis, average daily trading volume of all options increased 33.5% to 4.0 million contracts traded as compared to 3.0 million contracts traded in the prior year. Total year-to-date options volume through August 2008 increased 33.5% to 680.4 million contracts from 509.6 million contracts in the same period last year.

Total Options Volume (Equity, ETF, Index and FX Options)

	Current Month			Year-to-Date
(000s)	Aug-08	Aug-07	% Change	Aug-08	Aug-07	% Change
ISE Average Daily Volume	3,492.3	3,570.4	-2.2%	4,049.9	3,033.6	33.5%
ISE Total Volume	73,337.8	82,119.7	-10.7%	680,377.9	509,644.0	33.5%
Industry Average Daily Volume	12,543.1	12,791.8	-1.9%	14,082.5	10,829.7	30.0%
Market Share	27.8%	27.9%	(0.1) pts	28.8%	28.0%	0.8 pts
Market Share: Customer	30.1%	27.9%	2.2 pts	30.5%	29.1%	1.4 pts
Market Share: Firm	29.9%	27.7%	2.2 pts	31.5%	26.0%	5.5 pts
Market Share: Market Maker	25.3%	28.0%	(2.7) pts	26.4%	27.7%	(1.3) pts

Equity and ETF Options Volume Statistics

Current Month Year-to-Date

(000s)
Aug-08

Aug-07

% Change

Aug-08

Aug-07

% Change

ISE Average Daily Volume
3,411.9

3,467.4

-1.6%

3,971.4

2,973.5

33.6%

ISE Total Volume

71,650.0

79,750.4

-10.2%

667,196.2

499,551.2

33.6%

Industry Average Daily Volume

11,503.3

11,369.8

1.2%

12,975.4

9,759.4

33.0%

Market Share

29.7%

30.5%

(0.8) pts

30.6%

30.5%

0.1 pts

Market Share: Customer

32.0%

30.4%

1.6 pts

32.4%

31.6%

0.8 pts

Market Share: Firm

32.5%

31.1%

1.4 pts

34.2%

28.7%

5.5 pts

Market Share: Market Maker

26.9%

30.5%

(3.6) pts

28.1%

30.1%

(2.0) pts

Index Options Volume Statistics

	Current Month			Year-to-Date
(000s)	Aug-08	Aug-07	% Change	Aug-08	Aug-07	% Change
ISE Average Daily Volume	74.5	98.9	-24.6%	71.4	58.6	21.9%
ISE Total Volume	1,565.2	2,274.7	-31.2%	11,996.3	9,839.7	21.9%
Industry Average Daily Volume	1,021.2	1,410.8	-27.6%	1,083.1	1,066.4	1.6%
Market Share	7.3%	7.0%	0.3 pts	6.6%	5.5%	1.1 pts

ISE FX Options® Volume Statistics*

	Current Month			Year-to-Date
(000s)	Aug-08	Aug-07	% Change	Aug-08	Aug-07	% Change
ISE Average Daily Volume	5.8	4.1	41.9%	7.1	2.6	170.4%
ISE Total Volume	122.5	94.6	29.5%	1,185.4	253.1	N/M

*ISE FX Options began trading on April 17, 2007. Average daily volume for YTD 2007 is calculated based on the number of days the products traded.

ISE's market share statistics continue to be negatively impacted by trading strategies that are permitted based on a non-economic rationale. These strategies include dividend trades and synthetic short interest trades. These trades temporarily inflate and distort trading volume and market share when transacted.

Monthly Highlights

Options Exchange

ISE was the largest U.S. equity options exchange in August.
On August 2, 2008, ISE and the Osaka Securities Exchange Co., Ltd. (OSE) announced the termination of their Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to create a jointly owned equity options trading platform for the Japanese market. Given market developments in Japan, OSE has changed strategic direction to concentrate on strengthening its core business and as such, elected to terminate the MOA.
ISE traded more volume than any other options exchange in 1,045 of 1,993 issues in its listings.
ISE Stock Exchange
- On August 22, 2008 ISE and Direct Edge Holdings (Direct Edge), the parent company of Direct Edge ECN, announced that they have signed a definitive agreement whereby the ISE Stock Exchange will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Direct Edge. In return, ISE will gain an ownership stake in Direct Edge. The ISE Stock Exchange will provide technology to Direct Edge to further improve its trading platform.
- An average daily volume of 67.3 million shares traded on the ISE Stock Exchange in August 2008.
- The ISE Stock Exchange offers opportunities for price improvement through its non-displayed liquidity pool, MidPoint Match. Total price improvement in August 2008 was $3.9 million, and price improvement for all displayed market taker orders that interacted with MidPoint Match was nearly $0.01 per share.