The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) has announced that trading volume at CBOE in Standard & Poor’s 500 Index options (SPX) for the week of May 16 to 20 was 2,081,537 contracts, the busiest week ever for SPX trading. On Friday May 20, 503,528 SPX contracts traded at CBOE, short of the daily record setting volume of 540,850 contracts traded on November 20, 1997. Open interest in SPX options stood at 6,447,732 contracts at the close of trading on Friday.
The previous record for weekly SPX trading volume occurred during the week ending April 15, 2005, which was the busiest week ever at CBOE, when a reported 1,768,000 SPX contracts traded.
Through the end of April, year-to-date trading volume in SPX options at CBOE totaled 20,812,369 contracts, with average daily volume of 253,809 contracts, 41% ahead of last year’s pace. Open interest stood at 6,921,123 contracts at the end of April; 38% higher than end of April 2004. S&P 500 Index options are the most actively traded index option contract at CBOE.