International derivatives exchange Eurex saw a new record month in September with 229.4 million contracts, not including the trading volume of its
International derivatives exchange Eurex saw a new record month in September with 229.4 million contracts, not including the trading volume of its International Securities Exchange subsidiary, compared with a previous record of 207 million contracts in January this year.
Eurex acknowledges that the vigorous growth of 47 per cent from 156 million contracts in September 2007 is partly attributable to the increased use of exchange-traded derivatives during the ongoing financial market crisis.
The average daily volume in September was 10.4 million contracts a day, the first time average daily volume has reached eight figures. So far this year Eurex volumes are up by 15 per cent at 1.68 billion contracts, compared with 1.46 billion in the first nine months of 2007.
The equity index derivatives segment, the largest in terms of volume, exceeded 100 million contracts in a month for the first time and grew by 75 per cent year on year to 122.3 million contracts. A key growth driver was the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 Index Future with some 56.6 million contracts, while the option volume also set a new monthly record of 44.8 million contracts.
The equity derivatives segment, consisting of equity options and single stock futures), totalled 34.5 million contracts, compared with 24.1 million in September 2007, consisting of 30.6 million equity options contracts and 3.9 million single stock futures contracts.
Interest rate derivatives saw 72.6 million contracts traded, up from 61.8 million in September 2007. Some 27 million contracts were traded on the Euro Bund Future, 17.1 million on the Euro Bobl Future and 20 million on the Euro Schatz Future, its second-best monthly total.
At the International Securities Exchange, which has been part of Eurex since December 2007, the average daily trading volume of US options reached 4.8 million contracts, up from 3.0 million a year earlier. In total, 101.5 million contracts were traded last month. So far this year the average daily trading volume of all options is up 36 per cent to 4.1 million contracts.
Eurex Repo, which operates Swiss franc and euro repo markets, set new record volumes in all three segments in September. The secured money market segment, Euro GC Pooling, saw outstanding volumes increase to EUR47.2bn, while daily outstanding volume set a new mark of EUR55.6bn. The euro repo market grew by 60 per cent with an average outstanding volume of EUR75.7bn, compared with EUR47.2bn in September 2007, while the Swiss franc repo market set an average outstanding volume of EUR66.4bn.
The electronic trading platform Eurex Bonds saw trading volume of EUR10.2bn (single counting) in September, up from EUR6.3bn the previous month but down from EUR11.3bn in September 2007.
