OIC Announces February Options Trading Volume Grew 2%

Chicago—March 1, 2010

The Options Industry Council (OIC) announced today that 262,434,225 total options contracts were traded in February, representing a 2.33 percent increase over February 2009 volume of 256,464,343 contracts.

Average daily trading volume for February came in at 13,812,328 contracts compared to the same year ago period when 13,498,123 contracts were averaged each day. February year-to-date volume stood at 573,995,766 contracts, an increase of 11.61 percent compared to February 2009 when 514,277,856 contracts were exchanged. Year-to-date daily volume averaged 15,105,152 contracts compared to the prior year period when 13,186,611 contracts were averaged, representing a 14.55 percent increase.

Equity options saw 239,922,344 contracts change hands, 0.44 percent more than in February 2009 when 238,866,795 contracts were traded. Year-to-date equity options volume was 528,861,827 contracts, compared to 478,356,507 contracts at the same point last year which represents an increase of 10.56 percent. Daily equity options volume averaged 12,627,492 contracts per day in February, increasing 0.44 percent over February 2009 when 12,571,937 were averaged.

About OIC

OIC is an industry cooperative funded by BATS Options, Boston Options Exchange, Chicago Board Options Exchange, International Securities Exchange, NASDAQ OMX PHLX, NASDAQ Options Market, NYSE Amex Options, NYSE Arca Options, and The Options Clearing Corporation. OIC was formed in 1992 to educate investors and their financial advisors about the benefits and risks of exchange-traded equity options. OIC's resources include: The Options Industry Services Help Desk at 1-888-OPTIONS, educational Web sites at www.OptionsEducation.org, www.OptionsEducation.org/advisor and www.OICoptions.com, evening seminars throughout the continental United States and Canada, instructional DVDs and educational literature and software.

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