The Options Industry Council Announces Trading Volume on Pace for Record Year Despite October Decline

Market Wire

posted: 21 DAYS 15 HOURS AGO

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CHICAGO, IL -- (Marketwire) -- 11/02/09 -- The Options Industry Council (OIC) announced today that 330,432,938 total options contracts changed hands in October. This represents a 12.1 percent decline compared to October 2008, which saw the most contracts traded in a month ever when 375,934,882 contracts were traded.

Year-to-date average daily volume stands at 14.5 million contracts, while a pace of 12.7 million contracts per day for the remainder of the year would surpass the record trading level set in 2008.

October is the sixth highest trading volume month on record for both total options and equity options.

Average daily trading volume for October came in at 15,019,679 contracts, 8.11 percent less than the 16,344,995 contracts averaged each day for the same period in 2008. Year-to-date volume for October stood at 3,052,600,794 contracts compared to 3,116,322,848 contracts traded for the same period last year and representing a 2.04 percent decrease. Year-to-date daily volume averaged 14,536,194 contracts, down 1.11 percent compared to 14,699,636 contracts each day for the same year ago period.

Equity options volume experienced a decrease of 8.93 percent with 306,728,967 contracts exchanged in October compared to 336,805,246 contracts for the same period in 2008. Year-to-date equity options volume for October stood at 2,850,282,458 contracts compared to the same point last year when 2,857,938,960 contracts were traded, representing a 0.27 percent decrease. Equity options volume averaged 13,942,226 contracts each day in October, down 4.79 percent compared to 14,643,706 contracts each day for the same month last year.

About OIC

OIC is an industry cooperative funded by the Boston Options Exchange, Chicago Board Options Exchange, International Securities Exchange, NASDAQ OMX PHLX, NASDAQ Options Market, NYSE Amex Options, NYSE Arca Options, and The Options Clearing Corporation. OIC was formed in 1992 to educate investors and their financial advisors about the benefits and risks of exchange-traded equity options. OIC's resources include: The Options Industry Services Help Desk at 1-888-OPTIONS, educational Web sites at

www.OptionsEducation.org, www.OptionsEducation.org/advisor and

www.OICoptions.com, evening seminars throughout the continental United States and Canada, instructional DVDs and educational literature and software.

Media Contacts:
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MARKET WIRE

2009-11-02 13:02:48