Seat prices across US futures and options exchanges have posted new highs over recent weeks as investors and participants continued to see value in owning memberships.
Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and New York Board of Trade posted record seat sales in the past two weeks while New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) and its metals division Comex each hit record seat prices in December and January respectively, but have fallen off over the past week.
Add in recent record share prices for publicly traded exchanges such as Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), Chicago Board of Trade (CBoT), Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and International Securities Exchange, and it is clear that investors have continued to jump on the derivatives bandwagon. CBOE's new exchange index, based on the stock prices of those four exchanges plus Nasdaq, has risen consistently, increasing by 30% during the last three months.
Chris Hehmeyer, co-chairman of Goldenberg Hehmeyer in...