**OT**
This could be a signal of individual investors becoming more involved in options. The pros have always been trading options and, thus, a 20% growth rate could probably only occur if individual are starting to speculate in options, which, in general and IMO, a possible sign of a market top as most individual investors, including myself, are not skilled enough to move and trade in the options market....Comments anyone!
Where did the huge increase in volume come from?
MileHigh
>>Thursday April 2, 8:36 pm Eastern Time
CBOE March volume up 20.6 percent year-on-year
CHICAGO, April 2 (Reuters) - The Chicago Board Options Exchange said its exchange-wide trading volume totaled
17,248,030 contracts in March, up 20.6 percent from the same month a year earlier.
Of the total, call options accounted for 10,383,657 contracts and puts 6,864,373 contracts, the exchange added.
Volume in individual equity options totaled 11,554,732 contracts (8,062,023 calls and 3,492,709 puts) in March, up 48.8
percent from March 1997.
Year-to-date volume in equity options was running at a record pace of 32,011,030 contracts as of end-March, up 25.8
percent from a year earlier, the exchange stated.
Index options totaled 5,685,424 contracts (2,316,225 calls and 3,369,199 puts) in March, down 13.0 percent, the CBOE
said. |
