The OIC Announces June Monthly Volume Jumps 36% Over The Same Period Last Year

Chicago—July 1, 2008

The Options Industry Council (OIC) announced today that total options trading volume in June reached 304,003,964 contracts, a 35.85 percent increase over the year-ago level of 223,771,463 contracts. This marks the third time in history monthly total options volume has surpassed 300 million contracts.

Equity options volume increased 39 percent over June 2007 and year-to-date equity options volume is up 40.69 percent over the same point in 2007. The Options Clearing Corporation reported total options volume for the first half of 2008 is 1,736,179,540 contracts and 37.87 percent higher than it was in the first half of last year—a record-setting year when more than 2.86 billion contracts traded.

Average daily volume maintained the high levels it has consistently reached this year. Total options average daily volume for June was 14,476,560 contracts, a 35.86 percent increase over June 2007. Average daily trading volume for 2008 is 13,889,436 contracts, 36.77 percent higher than the same period last year.

June Highlights

• Total options volume added a new top 10 record day on June 19 when 21,027,951 contracts changed hands, making this the tenth highest volume day ever. Equity options volume hit 19,528,135 contracts on June 19, marking the eighth highest equity volume day ever.
• As of June 30, $881 billion in options premium had changed hands. Premium is the price paid to buy an option. For 2007, the total options premium surpassed $1.3 trillion.

About OIC

OIC is an industry cooperative funded by the American Stock Exchange, Boston Options Exchange, Chicago Board Options Exchange, International Securities Exchange, NASDAQ Options Market, NYSE Arca, Philadelphia Stock Exchange and The Options Clearing Corporation. OIC's resources include: The Options Industry Services Help Desk at 1-888-OPTIONS, educational Web sites at www.optionseducation.org and www.OICoptions.com, evening seminars throughout the continental United States and Canada, instructional DVDs and educational literature and software.

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