The Chicago Board Options Exchange reported that May brought in more contracts than at any other time in the exchange’s history.
Soaring past the previous record of 55.0 million contracts traded in March 2006, the exchange traded 70,522,508 contracts this past month, finishing 103% higher than May 2005’s 34.7 million.
The month saw an average of 3.2 million contracts traded each day, a new record for the exchange.
Equity and index options trading volumes also set records for May with the volume in equity option classes rising 84% over May 2005 to a record 37.1 million contracts traded. Index options landed 130% higher than May 2005 with 33.4 million contracts traded.
May’s record volume was driven primarily by heavy trading during options expiration week. Trading during the five trading day period of May 15 to May 19 was 22,216,890 contracts, the busiest week in CBOE history.
With 5,816,336 contracts traded on May 19, the exchange enjoyed the single busiest trading day in its history, which topped the previous record of 5,642,589 contracts from March 16, 2006.