The US has six dedicated options exchanges listing equity options, while the larger futures exchanges also list options on their financial and commodities products. Despite the proliferation of exchanges, though, trades on all six options venues are cleared through and guaranteed by Options Clearing Corporation (OCC).
The US options exchange industry experienced a record 2005 with total annual volume cleared by OCC amounting to 1.5bn contracts, surpassing the previous year's record volume by 27.3%.
By contrast, Europe has not developed the model of specialist exchanges in the options space, with financial, commodity and equity options all listed on multi-product exchanges like Eurex and Euronext Liffe. The US options market has, as a result, developed around Local traders while Europe's more institutional volume means lot sizes can vary enormously as can the requirements of market participants.
Eurex reported volumes of 256m contracts in its equity options product suite...