CHICAGO, IL -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 08/01/08 -- The Options Industry Council (OIC) announcedtoday that total options trading volume in July was 366,270,867 contracts,a 37.8 percent increase over the 265,867,612 contracts for the same periodlast year. This sets a new monthly trading volume record 2.5 percent higherthan the previous record set in January of this year.A new equity options volume record was also hit in July with 337,942,932contracts changing hands, an increase of 40.5 percent over July 2007.
Year-to-date options volume stands at 2.1 billion contracts, up 37.9percent over the same period in 2007. Equity options volume for the yearso far is up 40.5 percent from the year ago level.
Average daily trading volume in July was 16,648,676 contracts compared to12,660,363 contracts for the same period last year. Average daily tradingvolume for 2008 is 14,302,384 contracts, compared to 10,518,431 contractsat the same point in 2007.
July Highlights:
-- A new record trading volume day was established on July 15 when 25,264,883 contracts were traded, 6.4 percent higher than the previous record of 23,745,650 contracts set on August 16, 2007.-- Equity options trading also set a new record on July 15 with 22,941,369 contracts traded, a 10.7 percent increase over the previous record of 20,730,201 contracts on November 8, 2007.
About OIC
OIC is an industry cooperative funded by the American Stock Exchange,Boston Options Exchange, Chicago Board Options Exchange, InternationalSecurities Exchange, NASDAQ Options Market, NYSE Arca, Philadelphia StockExchange and The Options Clearing Corporation. OIC's resources include: TheOptions Industry Services Help Desk at 1-888-OPTIONS, educational Web sitesat www.optionseducation.org and www.OICoptions.com, evening seminarsthroughout the continental United States and Canada, instructional DVDs andeducational literature and software.
Jim Binder
312.322.9853
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Angela Kotso
312.322.6267
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