With a record 3.6bn equity options contracts traded last year — double the figure of five years ago — and some nine exchanges serving the market by the end of the year, is there room for more growth? Elise Coroneos reports.
Since the first standardised equity option rolled off the conveyor belt in the US in 1973, the growth of the industry can safely be described as impressive by almost any standards. Each year, with only 2002 as an exception, the US equity options market has seen growth in the number of contracts it trades.
Going from strength to strength, it has reached one milestone after another, particularly over the last 10 years. No sooner had the US Options Clearing Corporation reported in 2004 that it had cleared a record 1bn contracts that year, than it went on to clear 2bn contracts in 2006.
And in 2009, despite analysts’ predictions that...