Latest News

ISE Reports Monthly Volume for April 2008

NEW YORK, May 1, 2008 – The International Securities Exchange (ISE) today reported that in April 2008, its options exchange traded an average daily volume of 4.0 million contracts and was the largest U.S. options exchange as measured by total volume traded for the month. The ISE Stock Exchange traded an average daily volume of 62.3 million shares in the same period.

Average daily trading volume for all options contracts increased 48.0% to 4.0 million contracts in April as compared to 2.7 million contracts during the same period in 2007. Total options volume for the month increased 62.8% to 88.9 million contracts from 54.6 million contracts in the same year-ago period.

On a year-to-date basis, average daily trading volume of all options increased 52.1% to 4.2 million contracts traded as compared to 2.8 million contracts traded in the prior year. Total year-to-date options volume through April 2008 increased 55.8% to 348.7 million contracts from 223.8 million contracts in the same period last year.

Equity and Index Options Volume Statistics
Current Month Year-to-Date
(000s) Apr-08 Apr-07 % Change Apr-08 Apr-07 % Change
ISE Average Daily Volume 4,039.6 2,729.7 48.0% 4,201.0 2,762.8 52.1%
ISE Total Volume 88,871.2 54,593.9 62.8% 348,682.0 223,788.3 55.8%
Industry Average Daily Volume 12,805.6 9,844.2 30.1% 14,039.8 9,954.4 41.0%
Market Share 31.6% 27.7% 3.9 pts 29.9% 27.8% 2.1 pts
Market Share: Customer 32.4% 29.2% 3.2 pts 31.2% 29.3% 1.9 pts
Market Share: Firm 36.8% 25.7% 11.1 pts 32.7% 24.0% 8.7 pts
Market Share: Market Maker 29.3% 27.1% 2.2 pts 28.0% 27.7% 0.3 pts
Equity Options Volume Statistics
Current Month Year-to-Date
(000s) Apr-08 Apr-07 % Change Apr-08 Apr-07 % Change
ISE Average Daily Volume 3,967.7 2,690.8 47.5% 4,123.7 2,719.0 51.7%
ISE Total Volume 87,290.1 53,815.5 62.2% 342,267.8 220,242.3 55.4%
Industry Average Daily Volume 11,835.3 8,899.5 33.0% 12,932.6 8,999.8 43.7%
Market Share 33.5% 30.2% 3.3 pts 31.9% 30.2% 1.7 pts
Market Share: Customer 34.1% 31.8% 2.3 pts 33.1% 31.9% 1.2 pts
Market Share: Firm 40.3% 28.2% 12.1 pts 35.6% 26.4% 9.2 pts
Market Share: Market Maker 31.1% 29.5% 1.6 pts 29.8% 30.1% (0.3) pts
Index Options Volume Statistics
Current Month Year-to-Date
(000s) Apr-08 Apr-07 % Change Apr-08 Apr-07 % Change
ISE Average Daily Volume 64.2 37.6 70.8% 67.0 43.5 54.2%
ISE Total Volume 1,413.1 752.3 87.8% 5,561.0 3,519.9 58.0%
Industry Average Daily Volume 949.0 941.4 0.8% 1,074.7 952.8 12.8%
Market Share 6.8% 4.0% 2.8 pts 6.2% 4.6% 1.6 pts
ISE FX Options ® Volume Statistics
Current Month Year-to-Date
(000s) Apr-08 Apr-07 % Change Apr-08 Apr-07 % Change
ISE Average Daily Volume 7.6 2.6 192.6% 10.3 2.6 293.6%
ISE Total Volume 168.1 26.1 N/M 853.2 26.1 N/M

*ISE FX Options began trading on April 17, 2007. Average daily volume for 2007 is calculated based on the number of days the products traded.

ISE's market share statistics continue to be negatively impacted by trading strategies that are permitted based on a non-economic rationale. These strategies include dividend trades and synthetic short interest trades. These trades temporarily inflate and distort trading volume and market share when transacted.

Monthly Highlights

  • On April 18, 2008, ISE announced that it appointed Mark Dehnert of Goldman Sachs & Co. to serve on the ISE Board of Directors as a representative of ISE's Electronic Access Members (EAMs). Mr. Dehnert replaces Randy Frederick who previously represented ISE EAMs on the Board.

Options Exchange

  • ISE was the largest U.S. options exchange in April as measured by total volume traded.
  • On April 22, 2008, ISE traded its 3 billionth options contract. The trade, which was in Yahoo! Inc., took place between Goldman Sachs & Co. and Susquehanna Investment Group.
  • Open interest in ISE FX Options reached 488,295 contracts on April 30, 2008 and average daily trading volume was 7,642 contracts for the month.
  • ISE traded more volume than any other options exchange in 1,155 of 1,933 issues in its listings.

ISE Stock Exchange

  • An average daily volume of 62.3 million shares traded on the ISE Stock Exchange in April 2008.
  • On April 23, 2008, the ISE Stock Exchange announced two new fee changes, effective May 1, 2008. The first is a new $0.0035 rebate tier for displayed market liquidity providers and the second is a simplified pricing structure with a lower initial fee of $0.0015 per share for MidPoint Match®.
  • The ISE Stock Exchange offers opportunities for price improvement through its non-displayed liquidity pool, MidPoint Match. Total price improvement in April 2008 was $2.9million, and price improvement for all displayed market taker orders that interacted with MidPoint Match was greater than $0.01 per share.

ISE Background

The International Securities Exchange operates a family of fully electronic trading platforms, creating efficient markets through innovative technology and market structure. ISE's markets portfolio consists of an options exchange and a stock exchange. As the world's largest equity options trading venue, ISE offers options on equities, ETFs, indexes, and FX. The ISE Stock Exchange trades approximately 6,000 products, and is the only fully electronic equities platform that provides the opportunity for continuous price improvement through the interaction of its non-displayed liquidity pool, MidPoint Match, and its displayed stock market. ISE Alternative Markets is scheduled to launch in 2008 and will offer a parimutuel trading platform for derivatives auctions. To complement its markets and enable investors to trade smarter, ISE creates innovative new products including a portfolio of proprietary indexes and enhanced market data for sophisticated investors.

ISE is a wholly owned subsidiary of Eurex, a leading global derivatives exchange. Eurex itself is jointly owned by Deutsche Börse AG (Ticker: DB1) and SWX Swiss Exchange. Together, Eurex and ISE are the global market leader in individual equity and equity index derivatives.

For more information, please visit www.ise.com.

CONTACT:

Media:
Molly H. McGregor
International Securities Exchange
212-897-0275
[email protected]

The ISE globe logo design, International Securities Exchange®, ISE®, ISE Stock Exchange®, ISE FX Options® and MidPoint Match® are registered trademarks of International Securities Exchange, LLC and its affiliates.