The Options Industry Council (OIC) announced today that 286,269,624 total options contracts changed hands in August, representing an 8.68 percent increase over August 2008 when 263,405,886 contracts were traded.
Average daily trading volume for August came in at 13,631,887 contracts, 8.68 percent more than the 12,543,137 contracts averaged each day for the same period in 2008. Year-to-date volume for August stood at 2,407,357,991 contracts compared to 2,365,856,293 contracts traded for the same period last year and representing a 1.75 percent increase. Year-to-date daily volume averaged 14,415,317 contracts, up 2.36 percent over 14,082,478 contracts each day for the same year ago period.
Equity options volume experienced an increase of 10.49 percent with 266,913,045 contracts exchanged in August compared to 241,579,377 contracts for the same period in 2008. Year-to-date equity options volume for August stood at 2,249,690,979 contracts compared to the same point last year when 2,179,832,062 contracts were traded, representing a 3.2 percent increase. Equity options volume averaged 12,710,145 contracts each day in August, up 10.49 percent compared to 11,503,780 contracts each day for the same month last year.