Additionally, for the third time in less than a week, volume in options on the iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund (IWM) set a new record for single day trading at CBOE. The total volume of 781,066 contracts (151,315 calls and 629,751 puts) traded today topped the previous all-time records of 624,003 contracts from Friday, May 12 and 340,475 contracts from Thursday, May 11. For the month of April, average daily volume in IWM options was 133,973 contracts, 98% above April 2005 levels. Open interest in IWM options stood at 5,861,263 contracts at the start of trading this morning. More information on options on the iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund is available at www.cboe.com/IWM
CBOE lists options on eighteen Russell Indexes and funds, and announced on May 5 that it is now calculating the CBOE Russell 2000 Volatility Index (RVX) and the CBOE Russell 2000 BuyWrite Index (BXR), both of which are based on the Russell 2000 Index (RUT) options. More information, including historical data, can be found at www.cboe.com/RVX and www.cboe.com/BXR
A new single day trading record was also set on Wednesday for options on the S&P 100 Index with European-style exercise (XEO) as 108,851 contracts (9,233 calls and 99,618 puts) traded, topping the previous high of 102,261 contracts traded on May 2, 2006.
CBOE, the world's largest options marketplace and the creator of listed options, is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). For additional information about the CBOE and its products, visit the CBOE website at: http://www.cboe.com/