Trading volumes on the international derivatives market Eurex and its U.S. subsidiary Eurex US continued to surge in November. Trading volume on Eurex increased 24 percent year-on-year to reach 92 million contracts. Turnover in the EuroBond Future is up 44 per cent compared to the same month last year. Open interest at Eurex also continued to grow: Open interest at month’s end has climbed to 80 million contracts, the highest level ever. The number of open positions at the exchange has risen 23 percent compared to the same time last year.
Trading volumes at Eurex US, the fully-electronic U.S. futures and options exchange, reached an all-time high in November with 1.15 million contracts traded, surpassing the previous monthly volume record of 1.04 million in August 2004. Average daily trading rose to over 57,000 contracts, up 28 percent from 44,498 contracts in the previous month. Daily records were also set in overall volume, open interest and individual product turnover in November on Eurex US: overall daily volume hit an all-time high of 107,510 contracts on November 19, open interest set a new record of 77,637 contracts on November 30 and turnover in the 10-year U.S. Treasury Note reached a high of 62,886 contracts on November 19.
“The continuous growth at both Eurex and Eurex US underscores the impact of Eurex’s global distribution model,” says Rudolf Ferscha, CEO of Eurex. “Our strategy of expanding distribution into new regions and attracting new customer groups to our products is driving this growth. Geographical expansion allows us to be on track for another record year despite the impact of significantly lower volatility levels. New U.S.-based customers in particular are linking up to both Eurex and Eurex US to leverage the benefits of the Global Clearing Link.”
“The surge in volume and open interest at Eurex US is a reflection of greater participation, in particular a significant growth in customer business, in both the United States and Europe,” adds Satish Nandapurkar, CEO of Eurex US. “In addition to the growth in volume and liquidity, the benefits of the Global Clearing Link will continue to attract new users to Eurex US,” he added.
The highest turnover in November was delivered by the Fixed Income Derivatives segment at Eurex, with 52 million contracts, or more than half of the volume traded on the exchange. The Euro-Bund Future held its position as the most successful product, with turnover for this product surging 44 percent in comparison with the same month last year, to approximately 24 million contracts. The Euro-Bobl Future accounted for 13.6 million contracts, an increase of 30 percent on November 2003. Turnover for the Euro-Schatz Future was up around 24 percent to 10.4 million contracts.
Approximately 40 million contracts were traded in equity-based derivatives in November, 22 million of which were attributable to equity index derivatives and 18 million to equity options. The top contract among the equity index derivatives was the future on the DJ Euro-STOXX 50 index with 8.6 million contracts, which equates to a rise of more than 12 percent year-on-year. Open interest in options on the Euro STOXX 50 reached 15 million contracts, a new record.