As equities exchanges face growing fragmentation and competition from alternative trading venues, the derivatives exchanges are seeing trading volumes jump as electronic trading permeates into these markets.

For the first quarter of 2008, many of the derivatives exchanges reported significant profit growth and volume increases as volatility hit the markets and risk management continues to be at the forefront.

The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) reported net profit of $92.3 million with its futures exchanges seeing an increase of 39% in profit over the previous year. The ISE futures exchanges saw 62.5 million in contracts traded in the first quarter.

NYMEX also credited exponential growth in electronic trading for driving its profits for the quarter. NYMEX saw net profits reach $72.1 million, almost 30 percent more than the same period last year thanks for average daily volumes reaching 1.9 million contracts.

On the options front, big jumps were also evident as volatility continued to plague the markets. The International Securities Exchange (ISE) saw its average daily volume for options hit 4 million contracts for the month of April, almost 50 percent growth over the same period last year.
At the CBOE Futures Exchange, volume reached over 100,000 contracts traded for the month of April, up almost 150% over the same time last year.

The CME Group saw options volumes increase 16 percent to 1.8 million contracts per day as electronic options trading grew 23 percent, reaching an average of 275,000 contracts per day.

NYSE Arca Options saw daily volumes grow 36% in April. While derivatives trading at NYSE Euronext's Liffe saw a 34% increase in contracts traded so far this year compared to the same period last year. During April, more than 97 million futures and options contracts were traded, up 33 percent over the previous year.

At Advanced Trading we’re covering electronic trading in the derivatives markets more and more and this month we are seeking out providers of Futures Algorithms for our next Directory. If you offer algorithms for futures please be sure to fill out the online form at:

http://advancedtrading.com/directories/futures-algorithms/entry/

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