CBOE Volume Passes 1 Billion Mark

In October, the Chicago Board Options Exchange’s year-to-date volume exceeded 1 billion contracts for the first time in the exchange’s history, as 1.034 billion contracts changed hands through October, an average daily volume of 4.9 million contracts; the total volume for all of 2007 was 944.5 million. October was also the CBOE’s most active month ever, as 134.2 million contracts were traded for an average daily volume of 5.8 million contracts. The total for the month was up more than 50 percent from 89.0 million in October 2007, and up roughly 6 percent from the previous month.

Cash index options also saw record volumes during the month at 35.5 million contracts, more than a quarter of the exchange’s total volume and an average daily volume of 1.5 million contracts. That’s 79 percent higher than the cash index volume in October 2007. Year-to-date, cash index options volume was up 17 percent from the prior-year period. Options contracts on the S&P 500 Index and the Russell 2000 Index saw record volume levels in October.

However, ETF options contracts failed to break the record of 39.9 million contracts set the previous month, coming in at 38.6 million contracts for October, or an average daily volume of 1.7 million contracts. But monthly volume was 121 percent higher than in October 2007, and options on the PowerShares QQQ Trust (NasdaqGM: QQQQ) and S&P Depositary Receipts SPDR (NYSEArca: SPY) both achieved record volume levels.