CBOE Announces Record-Breaking Stock Option Volume in March
PR Newswire - April 02, 1998 18:53
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CHICAGO, April 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The 25th Anniversary year at the Chicago
Board Options Exchange continued to be a good one in March as stock option
volume at the exchange broke into record territory.
Bolstered by a significant increase in trading this past March, year-to-
date stock option volume at CBOE totaled a record-breaking 32,011,030
contracts (22,262,693 calls, 9,748,337 puts), up 25.8 percent from the first
three months of 1997. Year-to-date open interest in stock options rose to
12,973,575, an increase of 49 percent from a year ago. In March alone stock
option volume totaled 11,554,732 contracts (8,062,023 calls, 3,492,709 puts),
up 48.8 percent from March 1997.
Total exchange-wide volume in March increased to 17,248,030 contracts
(10,383,657 calls, 6,864,373 puts), a 20.6 percent increase over March 1997.
Year-to-date exchange-wide volume at CBOE reached 47,718,964 contracts
(28,999,708 calls, 18,719,256 puts), up 8.2 percent from 1997 totals.
On the index side, March of 1998 saw a dramatic rise in index FLEX
Options, CBOE's customized options product for institutional investors. Index
FLEX Option volume in March reached 235,156 contracts, up an astonishing 589
percent over February's totals. Year-to-date index FLEX options volume
reached 318,284 contracts, an increase of 170 percent from the same time
period a year ago. Open interest for index FLEX options in March was 307,128.
CBOE offers FLEX options on the S&P 100(R), S&P 500(R), Nasdaq 100(R) and
Russell 2000(R) stock indexes, as well as on 178 individual equities.
Overall index options trading for March of 1998 totaled 5,685,424
contracts (2,316,225 calls, 3,369,199 puts). Open interest, at 3,950,342
contracts, was up 28.9 percent from the close of March 1997. Year-to-date
index option volume at the end of March was 15,680,913 contracts (6,720,789
calls, 8,960,124 puts).
Other notable index products that traded well in March were options on the
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJX(R)) and S&P 100 Index(R)(OEX(TM)). DJX
volume in March totaled 331,403 contracts (103,070 calls, 228,333 puts), up
6.8 percent over the previous month's total. Open interest in the DJX was
360,334. OEX volume in March was up 5.4 percent over February's total at
2,506,041 contracts (1,084,733 calls, 1,421,308 puts). Open interest in OEX
stood at 437,560 contracts.
Founded in 1973, the Chicago Board Options Exchange will celebrate its
25th Anniversary on April 26, 1998. Today, CBOE stands as the pioneer of
listed options and the world's largest marketplace.
SOURCE Chicago Board Options Exchange
/CONTACT: Carol Kennedy of the Chicago Board Options Exchange,
312-786-7323/
/Web site: cboe.com |
