Options Industry Volume Climbs 35% Over Last February, Continuing High Growth Trend

Chicago—March 2, 2006

The Options Industry Council (OIC) announced today that trading volume in February rose 34.5 percent over the same period last year as 142,987,943 total options contracts changed hands during the month.

Although February traditionally records a lower amount of trading volume than most months, this February was the fourth best month ever for trading volume, after January 2006, November 2005 and October 2005.

Equity options volume in February was also the fourth highest monthly volume recorded with 131,091,363 contracts traded, a 34.5 percent increase over the 97,485,112 contracts traded in February 2005.

February Highlights:

• Average daily equity options volume 6,899,545 (up 34.5 percent from Feb. 2005)
• Average daily total options volume 7,525,681 (up 34.5 percent from Feb. 2005)
• Open interest at the end of February stood at 163,492,510 contracts, a 19 percent increase over the same point last year. Open interest is the total number of options contracts not yet exercised or allowed to expire.

About OIC

OIC is a non-profit association funded by the American Stock Exchange, Boston Options Exchange, Chicago Board Options Exchange, International Securities Exchange, Pacific Exchange, Philadelphia Stock Exchange and The Options Clearing Corporation. OIC's resources include: The Options Industry Services call center at 1-888-OPTIONS, an educational Web site at www.888options.com, evening seminars throughout the continental United States and Canada, instructional videos and educational literature and software.

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