Eurex, the international derivatives exchange, announced that it closed out the year 2001 with a record volume of more than 674 contracts traded. Eurex topped the previous year’s total by 48 percent and further expanded its position as the world’s leading derivatives exchange. The December turnover figures reflect the rising volumes for the year as a whole. Some 44 million contracts were traded and cleared at Eurex during the last month of the year, representing an increase of 25 percent against the December 2000 figure (35 million contracts).
The capital market products were the highest-turnover segment at Eurex and the world’s most successful exchange-traded derivatives family in December with 25 million contracts traded, up 16 percent from the December 2000 figure. The Bund future was the highest- volume product in December, remaining at the same high level as the year before, with more than 10 million contracts traded. The Bund future was followed by the Schatz future with 6.5 million contracts traded, an increase of 76 percent against the December 2000 volume (3.7 million contracts), as well as the Bobl future with some 5.9 million contracts traded, a 15 percent increase overthe December 2000 figure (5.1 million contracts). The strongest growth rates against December 2000 were achieved in the equity-based products segment, where some 19 million contracts changed hands. The highest increases in volume here were posted in the index products with 10.6 million contracts traded, up 48 percent from the volume of 7.2 million contracts traded in December 2000. In the options and futures on the Dow Jones Euro-STOXX 50, Eurex exceeded the December 2000 volume by more than 90 percent with some 5.2 million contracts traded. The volumes traded in equity options, which ranked second, were slightly lower than in the index products where 8.2 million contracts were traded in the options on international equities from 17 different sectors in December 2001, 29 percent more than the number traded in the same month last year (6.4 million contracts).
The index products at Eurex also showed the strongest growth rates on a year-to-year comparison. A total of some 132 million contracts were traded in 2001, compared with 76 million in the year 2000 (a 74 percent increase). The index products were followed by the equity options, which also posted volume of 132 million contracts traded, a growth rate of 48 percent over the previous year’s figure (89 million contracts). The highest-turnover segment at Eurex, the capital market products, showed 42 percent growth in volume against the previous year, with a total of 409 million contracts traded, compared with 288 million the year before.