CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwire - May 1, 2012) - OCC announced that cleared contract volume reached 321,989,037 contracts in April, a 5 percent decrease from the April 2011 volume of 338,562,433 contracts. 

Based on Futures Industry Association data released in April, OCC's first quarter cleared volume of 1,068,689,268 contracts accounted for 57 percent of all listed derivatives contracts cleared in the U.S. during that period.

Options: Exchange-listed options volume reached 319,640,606 contracts in April, a 5 percent decrease from April 2011. Year-to-date options trading volume is down 7 percent from 2011 with 1,380,749,815 contracts.

Futures: Futures cleared by OCC declined 25 percent to 2,348,431 contracts in April. Equity futures fell to 228,685 contracts in April, 31 percent from 2011, though year-to-date average daily volume remains up 26 percent. Index and other futures reached 2,119,694 contracts, down 24 percent from 2011.

Securities Lending: OCC's stock loan program, including OTC and AQS, saw a 34 percent increase in new loan activity over April 2011 with 79,826 new loan transactions in April. Year-to-date securities lending activity is up 11 percent from 2011 with 295,150 new loan transactions in 2012. OCC's stock loan program had an average daily notional value of $28,446,996,307.

                         
    April 2012 Total Contract Volume   April 2011 Total Contract Volume   April Total Contract % Change vs. 2011   YTD. Avg. Daily Contract 2012   YTD. Avg. Daily Contract 2011   Avg. Daily Contract % Change vs. 2011
Equity Options   295,433,916   314,102,867   -6%   15,609,045   16,915,409   -8%
Index Options   24,206,690   21,323,080   14%   1,229,367   1,198,119   3%
Total Options   319,640,606   335,425,947   -5%   16,838,413   18,113,528   -7%
Equity Futures   228,685   331,209   -31%   17,753   14,081   26%
Index /
Other Futures		   2,119,694   2,804,859   -24%   103,323   151,185   -32%
Options on Futures   52   418   -88%   2   16   -88%
Total Futures   2,348,431   3,136,486   -25%   121,079   165,282   -27%
Total Volume   321,989,037   338,562,433   -5%   16,959,492   18,278,810   -7%
                         

About OCC

OCC is the world's largest equity derivatives clearing organization. Founded in 1973, OCC operates under the jurisdiction of both the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a Registered Clearing Agency and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as a Derivatives Clearing Organization. OCC now provides central counterparty (CCP) clearing and settlement services to 15 exchanges and trading platforms for options, financial and commodity futures, security futures and securities lending transactions. More information about OCC is available at www.theocc.com.


Jim Binder
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