08:48 AM
Options Volume Increases 14% in March
The International Securities Exchange reported average daily volume of 4.4 million contracts in March 2009, according to an ISE release. Average daily trading volume for all options contracts increased 3.7% to 4.4 million contracts in March as compared to 4.2 million contracts during the same period in 2008. Total options volume for the month increased 14.0% to 96.8 million contracts from 84.9 million contracts in the same year-ago period. On a year-to-date basis, average daily trading volume of all options decreased 6.7% to 4.0 million contracts traded as compared to 4.3 million contracts traded in the prior year. Total year-to-date options volume through March 2009 decreased 6.7% to 242.5 million contracts from 259.8 million contracts in the same period last year.