CBOE Holdings Reports April 2012 Trading Volume

CHICAGO, May 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CBOE Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOE) today reported that April trading volume for options on the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) and C2 Options Exchange (C2), combined, totaled 90.86 million contracts.  April's average daily volume (ADV) was 4.54 million contracts, up one percent from April 2011 ADV of 4.48 million contracts and down six percent from March 2012 ADV of 4.85 million contracts.

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CBOE Futures Exchange, home of CBOE Volatility Index futures, in April recorded its second-best month ever based on average daily volume of nearly 85,000 contracts.

CBOE Trading Volume and Market Share

• CBOE trading volume – CBOE's April 2012 ADV was 4.33 million contracts, up one percent from 4.31 million contracts ADV in April 2011 and down six percent from March 2012 ADV of 4.62 million contracts.
• CBOE index options – April 2012 index option ADV was 1.14 million contracts, up 14 percent from just under one million contracts ADV in April 2011 and down seven percent from March 2012 ADV of 1.22 million contracts.
• CBOE equity options – April 2012 equity option ADV was 2.10 million contracts, even with both April 2011 and March 2012 ADV.
• CBOE ETF options – April 2012 ETF option ADV was 1.09 million contracts, down nine percent from 1.21 million ADV in April 2011 and down 16 percent from March 2012 ADV of nearly 1.30 million contracts.
• The five most actively traded index and ETF options at CBOE during April were the S&P 500 Index (SPX), Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts (SPY), CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), PowerShares QQQ Trust (QQQQ) and iShares Trust-Russell 2000 Index Fund (IWM).
• The five most actively traded equity options at CBOE during April were Apple (AAPL), Bank of America (BAC), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN) and Intel (INTC).   

Expanded April 2012 volume information for CBOE index and ETF options is available at: www.cboe.com/data/monthlyvolume.aspx.

CBOE Market Share:
CBOE April market share was 27.1 percent, up 1.4 percentage points from April 2011 and up 0.1 of a percentage point from March 2012.  If the volume from dividend trades was excluded from industry data for April 2012, CBOE's total market share for April would be 28.0 percent.

Exclusion of dividend trades from total industry volume data presents a more relevant measure of the relative trends in the options business.

CBOE April 2012 Market Share by Product:

• Index options – CBOE's market share was 94.0 percent, up 0.1 of a percentage point from April 2011 and down 0.4 of a percentage point from March 2012.
• Equity options – CBOE's market share was 22.3 percent, up 1.3 percentage points from April 2011 and down 0.3 of a percentage point from March 2012.
• ETF options – CBOE's market share was 20.4 percent, down 0.8 of a percentage point from April 2011 and up 0.4 of a percentage point from March 2012.

C2 Options Exchange Trading Volume and Market Share

C2 Trading Volume:
In April 2012, C2 ADV was 210,500 contracts, up 21 percent from April 2011 ADV of 174,600 contracts and down six percent from March 2012 ADV of 223,300 contracts.  April 2012 ETF and equity options ADV rose 18 percent and 16 percent, respectively, from April 2011. Compared with March 2012, April 2012 equity options ADV was up two percent. ETFs and index options volume dropped 10 percent and 15 percent, respectively, versus the prior month.

C2 Market Share: 
In April 2012, C2's market share totaled 1.3 percent, even with March 2012 market share and up 0.3 of a percentage point from April 2011. If the volume from dividend trades was excluded from industry data for April, C2's total market share would be 1.4 percent.  April 2012 ETF option and equity option market share were up 0.5 of a percentage point and 0.2 of a percentage point, respectively, from April 2011.

CBOE Futures Exchange Trading

• April ranked as the third busiest month for total contract volume in CFE history, with 1,692,624 contracts changing hands. Average daily volume at CFE – 84,631 contracts -- was the second-highest of any month ever.
• CBOE Volatility Index futures volume totaled 1,683,034 contracts in April 2012, up 102 percent from April 2011.  Average daily volume was 84,152 contracts, up 102 percent from April 2011 and down six percent from all-time-record ADV of 89,268 contacts in March 2012.

CBOE Holdings Average Transaction Fee Per Contract
The company reported its average transaction fee per contract for the three months ended March 31, 2012, in conjunction with its quarterly earnings news release, issued today, Tuesday, May 1, 2012. This information also will be posted to the Investor Relations section of CBOE's website under Financial Information, Supplemental Information.

About CBOE Holdings, Inc.
CBOE Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOE) is the holding company for Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), C2 Options Exchange and other subsidiaries.  CBOE, the largest U.S. options exchange and creator of listed options, continues to set the bar for options trading through product innovation, trading technology and investor education. CBOE offers equity, index and ETF options, including proprietary products, such as S&P 500 options (SPX), the most active U.S. index option, and options on the CBOE Volatility Index (the VIX Index). Other products engineered by CBOE include equity options, security index options, LEAPS options, FLEX options, and benchmark products such as the CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Index (BXM). CBOE's Hybrid Trading System incorporates electronic and open-outcry trading, enabling customers to choose their trading method. CBOE's Hybrid is powered by CBOEdirect, a proprietary, state-of-the-art electronic platform that also supports C2 Options Exchange (C2), CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE), CBOE Stock Exchange (CBSX) and OneChicago. CBOE is home to the world-renowned Options Institute and www.cboe.com, named "Best of the Web" for options information and education. CBOE is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with all trades cleared by the OCC.

CBOE®, Chicago Board Options Exchange®, CBSX®, CBOE Stock Exchange®, CFE®, CBOEdirect®, FLEX®, Hybrid®, LEAPS®, CBOE Volatility Index® and VIX® are registered trademarks, and BuyWrite(SM), BXM(SM), CBOE Futures Exchange(SM), SPX(SM) and The Options Institute are servicemarks of Chicago Board Options Exchange, Incorporated (CBOE). C2(SM), C2 Options Exchange, Incorporated(SM) and SPXpm(SM) are servicemarks of C2 Options Exchange, Incorporated (C2). Standard & Poor's®, S&P®, S&P 500®, Standard and Poor's Depositary Receipts®, and SPDR® are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services, LLC and have been licensed for use by CBOE, C2 and CFE. All other trademarks and servicemarks are the property of their respective owners.

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SOURCE CBOE Holdings, Inc.