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CBOE April Volume Increases Slightly
The Chicago Board Options Exchange reported a 1 percent year-over-year increase in average daily volume to 4.54 million contracts.
Interestingly, average daily volume for index options was up 14 percent, while the volume for ETF options was down 9 percent. Meanwhile, equity options volume was flat, according to the CBOE’s statement.
The CBOE press release noted that the most actively traded of its ETF and index options contracts during the month were those on the S&P 500 Index, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (NYSE Arca: SPY), the CBOE VIX, the PowerShares QQQ Trust (Nasdaq GM: QQQQ) and the iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund (NYSE Arca: IWM).
Nasdaq OMX Lists MSCI Options
The Nasdaq OMX Group launched exchange-traded options contracts on the MSCI Emerging Markets Index and the MSCI EAFE Index in May.
The new contracts are the first of their kind for those indexes, and are designed to provide exposure through cash-settled options that closely track the performance of the indexes. Market participants, including institutional and retail investors, can use the options to implement trading strategies and to improve the process of price discovery, the exchange said in a press release.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index and the MSCI EAFE Index are each free-float-adjusted market capitalization benchmarks focused on emerging and developed markets, respectively. Both underlie some of the largest ETFs currently trading.
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