The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) said total cleared contract volume in 2011 reached 4.6 billion contracts, a 17% increase over the 2010 volume of 3.92 billion contracts. 2011 marked the ninth consecutive year of record volume for OCC and the first time cleared contract volume surpassed 4 billion contracts.
OCC ended the year with 322.4 million cleared contracts in December, a 6% decrease from the December 2010 volume of 344.2 million contracts, indicating a soothing of market volatility, which drives derivatives trading activity, last month compared to the same time last year.
Exchange-listed options trading in December reached 320 million contracts, down 6% from December 2010. Average daily options volume in 2011 was 18.1 million contracts, roughly 2.6 million contracts per day more than the daily average in 2010. OCC cleared 4.56 billion total options contracts in 2011, a 17% increase over 2010’s annual cleared volume of 3.89 billion contracts.
Futures cleared by OCC reached 2.08 million contracts in December, a 31% decline from December 2010. OCC cleared a daily average of 151,618 futures contracts in 2010, nearly 44% higher than 2010’s daily average. 2011 brought OCC futures clearing to its highest level to date with an annual total of 38.2 million contracts.
OCC’s securities lending program, including OTC and AQS, saw new loan activity fall 35% compared to December 2010 with 45,133 new loan transactions in December 2011. Despite this decline, OCC’s annual securities lending activity was up 42% from 2010 with 743,730 new loan transactions in 2011. OCC’s stock loan program ended the year with an average daily notional value of $19.1 million.
Reporting by: Janet Du Chenne, Global Custodian, an Asset International publication