The world's largest derivatives exchanges have announced yet more impressive half-year volume results with June volumes also up on year-ago levels.
The large gains in volumes seemed to support sentiments expressed at the recent derivatives conference in London that trading levels are still set to rise dramatically over the years to come. At the event, participants predicted that at the current compound rate the industry will hit the 100bn lots mark within ten years.
Futures - Chicago
Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) traded more than 360m contracts during the second quarter of the year, taking year-to-date volume at the end of June to upwards of 660m contracts. During the quarter, average daily volume stood at a record 5.7m contracts, up 31% from year-ago levels.
Electronic options were a particular area of success for the exchange, having more than tripled in average daily volume year-on-year to 131,000 contracts. Its E-Mini options averaged a...