US options volume shaves ahead of 2008
The Options Industry Council yesterday announced that monthly US options volumes rose 33% year-on-year in December 2009. A total of 294.98m contracts were traded. For the year as a whole there was little change: 2009 volume was 3.613bn contracts, up 0.84% from 2008. Total options premiums for the year fell from $1.9tr in 2008 to $1.22tr in 2009. An Options Industry Council statement attributed this to the fact that “prices to buy options came down from the peaks seen at the height of the financial crisis”.
Eurex’s year of pain
Volume at Eurex fell 22% between 2008 and 2009. A total of 1.687bn contracts were traded in 2009 of which 466m were interest rate, 798m were...