Options Industry Sets New Daily Volume Record

Friday’s Trading Nearly Double The Average Daily Volume For 2005
CHICAGO, April 18 /PRNewswire/ — The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) and The Options Industry Council (OIC) announced today that Friday, April 15, 2005 set a new daily volume record when 11,254,044 total options contracts traded, 31.4 percent higher than the previous record, set on January 16, 2004.

The number of contracts that changed hands on Friday was nearly double the year-to-date average daily volume. The record-setting day followed a couple of weeks after March set the new monthly trading volume record, and a day after trading volume exceeded 8 million contracts for just the fourth time.
Four of the top five trading days have occurred in 2005.
Equity options volume also set a new daily record on April 15 with 10,097,235 contracts traded, a 25.6 percent increase from the previous record set on January 16, 2004. Friday’s trading was only the second time equity options exceeded 8 million contracts in a day.
OCC Background
OCC, founded in 1973, is the largest clearing organization in the world for options and was the first clearing house to receive a ‘AAA’ credit rating from Standard & Poor’s Corporation. Operating under the jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, OCC provides clearing and settlement services for the American Stock Exchange, the Boston Options Exchange, Chicago Board Options Exchange, CBOE Futures Exchange, International Securities Exchange, OneChicago, Pacific Exchange, Philadelphia Stock Exchange and Philadelphia Board of Trade. More information about OCC is available through its Web site at www.optionsclearing.com .
About OIC
OIC is a non-profit association funded by the U.S. options exchanges and The Options Clearing Corporation. OIC’s free resources include: The Investor Services call center at 1-888-OPTIONS, an educational Web site at www.888options.com, evening seminars throughout the continental United States and Canada, educational literature and software.