Trading activity in equity options established a new all-time record for single-day volume at CBOE on Friday, January 20th as 2,878,351 contracts traded, besting the previous record total of 2.4 million contracts on April 15, 2005. During 2005, equity option average daily volume at CBOE was 1.1 million contracts, and volume for the year totaled more than 275.6 million contracts, an increase of 23% over the previous year.
Volume in index options at CBOE also reached a new high on Friday, January 20th as 2,391,146 contracts traded. This new all-time record for single-day volume in index options surpassed the previous high mark of the nearly 2.1 million contracts on December 15, 2005. Total index option volume at CBOE during 2005 was 192.5 million contracts, with an average daily volume of 764,035 contracts, up 41% over 2004.
Trading in options on the S&P 500 Index (SPX) also achieved a new milestone as 922,876 contracts traded, breaking the previous volume record of 801,974 contracts on September 16, 2005. Average daily volume in SPX options during 2005 was 284,931 contracts, 45% higher than the year before. On Friday, open interest in SPX options was 6,937,435 contracts.
Additionally, CBOE set a record for the total number of trades in a single-day as 542,098 trades were handled on Friday, January 20th, shattering the previous record of 410,200 trades, which was set just one day prior on Thursday, January 19th.
CBOE, the world's largest options marketplace and the creator of listed options, is regulated by the SEC. For additional information about the CBOE and its products, access the CBOE website at: http://www.cboe.com/