New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) has announced that it will introduce a natural gas look-alike options contract during regular trading hours beginning on 15 August. The contract will be listed for 72 consecutive monthly contracts beginning with the September 2005 contract. The options will be European-exercise style and financially settled. On expiration day, the call option pays out the difference between the settlement price of the underlying futures contract less the strike price multiplied by 10,000 MMBtu, or zero, whichever is greater.
Nymex set daily volume records on 10 August for Nymex division futures and options overall and E-miny natural gas futures contracts. Overall volume reached 1,048,362 contracts, breaking the previous record of 1,044,370 contracts traded on 14 July. Nymex division futures hit a record 811,283 contracts, exceeding the 743,286 contracts also traded on 14 July 14. E-miny natural gas futures trading reached 2,934 contracts, surpassing the 2,355 contracts...