The Options Industry Council (OIC) announced that a new monthly trading volume record has been set for the fourth time this year.
September options trading volume totaled 131,873,598 contracts, a 54.5% increase over the year-ago level of 85,362,710. September volume was 6.2% higher than the previous monthly record for total options trading set in April. September marks the twelfth consecutive month that total options trading has exceeded 100 million contracts.
On Sept. 16, total options trading volume surpassed 1 billion contracts for only the second time in history, achieving this milestone two months faster than it was reached last year. Year-to-date options volume finished September at 1,062,893,788 contracts traded, a 24.4% increase over the same period in 2004.
Equity options volume for September also set a new monthly trading record when it reached 120,125,847 contracts (48,469,302 puts and 71,656,545 calls), 54.3% higher than September last year and 6.4% higher than the previous monthly record set in March. Year-to-date equity options trading volume is up 23.5% over the same period a year ago.
September also brought to a close the highest volume quarter ever recorded with 367,005,789 contracts changing hands – more contracts than were traded in all of 1997. Total options trading in the third quarter 2005 was 39.3% higher than 3Q04, and – despite including the traditionally slower trading summer months of July and August – broke the quarterly volume record set in the previous quarter by 5.4%.