The Options Industry Council (OIC) announced today that 319,640,606 total options contracts changed hands in April, 4.71 percent less than the 335,425,947 contracts traded in April 2011.
Average daily trading volume in April was 15,982,030 contracts, 4.71 percent lower than the 16,771,298 contracts in the same year ago period. Year-to-date volume for April stood at 1,380,749,815 contracts, which is 7.04 percent lower than the 1,485,309,264 contracts traded at the same point last year.
Equity options volume (options on individual stocks and ETFs) for April came in at 295,433,916 contracts, down 5.94 percent compared to April of last year when 314,102,867 contracts were exchanged. On average, 14,771,696 contracts changed hands each day in April, which is 5.94 percent lower than daily average from the previous April of 15,705,143 contracts. Equity options year-to-date volume came in at 1,279,941,692 contracts, down 7.72 percent compared to the 1,387,063,516 contracts traded throughout the same period last year.