The NASDAQ OMX Group (Nasdaq:NDAQ) today announced that futures contracts based on the NASDAQ-100 Index(r) have crossed the 5/25 milestone -- 500 million contracts traded/$25 trillion in notional value. Moreover, trading of futures on the NASDAQ-100 Index is fast approaching 600 million contracts worth over $25 trillion in notional value on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
The NASDAQ-100 and the S&P 500 are the only indexes with contracts traded on the U.S. futures markets to cross this important threshold.
"Achieving this important milestone reinforces the NASDAQ-100 Index as a tremendously relevant benchmark for investors and market professionals around the world," said John Jacobs, Executive Vice President, NASDAQ OMX Global Financial Products (GFP), speaking at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange's Global Financial Leadership Conference in Naples, FL. "Amid continuous change in the global financial marketplace, the NASDAQ-100 Index has consistently been a key and reliable indicator of market activity in the investment and economic communities."
The NASDAQ-100 Index is the benchmark for over 600 NASDAQ-branded products sold in 36 countries, including PowerShares QQQ(tm) (Nasdaq:QQQQ), one of the most actively traded ETFs in the world and one of the most heavily traded listed equity securities in the U.S. based on average daily trading volume. The NASDAQ-100 Index is also the basis for the NASDAQ-100 Index European Tracker(r), available only to investors in certain European countries.
Established in 1985, the NASDAQ-100 Index includes 100 of the largest domestic and international non-financial securities listed on The NASDAQ Stock Market(r) (NASDAQ(r)) based on market capitalization. The Index reflects companies across major industry groups including computer hardware and software, telecommunications, retail/wholesale trade and biotechnology. It does not contain securities of financial companies including investment companies. For more information about the NASDAQ-100 Index, visit www.nasdaq.com/indexes/.
