The OIC Announces August Trading Volume Decreased 10% From August 2007

Chicago— September 2, 2008

The Options Industry Council (OIC) announced today that total options trading volume in August was 263,405,886 contracts, a 10.5 percent decline from the record-setting volume of 294,211,443 contracts last August. Average daily volume for the month, however, was down 1.9 percent, from 12,791,802 last August to 12,543,137 this year.

This marks the first decline in monthly volume from the year-ago period since July 2003.

“Options trading in August 2007 set a monthly volume record—spurred by market volatility brought on by the credit crisis—that remains the fifth highest monthly total today,” said Gina McFadden, President of The Options Industry Council. “An unprecedented 61-month string of increasing trading volume has come to an end, but it is clear that many more investors learned the value of using options during that time.”

Year-to-date options volume stands at 2.37 billion contracts, up 30 percent over the same period in 2007.

Equity options volume saw 241,579,377 contracts change hands, a decrease of 7.6 percent from August 2007. Equity options average daily volume was up 1.2 percent over August 2007 as there were two fewer trading days compared to last August. Equity options volume for the year so far is up 33 percent from the year ago level.

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, NASDAQ OMX PHLX, NYSE Arca, 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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