Press

Eurex, the international derivatives market, set another world record in March: With 61.2 million contracts traded, the world market leader surpassed its March 2000 turnover by 45 percent and beat the previous record of 53.5 million contracts traded in January 2001. After the outstanding results posted in January (53.5 million) and February (48.9 million), Eurex turned over a total of 163.7 million contracts during the first quarter of 2001, also a new record. Trading volume for the same period of last year was 121.5 million contracts.

In the capital market products, Eurex slightly topped its previous record of 36.6 million contracts traded in January with 36.7 million contracts traded in March. The Bobl future, with 9.5 million contracts traded, beat its previous record of 8.9 million contracts set in January 2001. With 7.9 million contracts traded, the Schatz future edged past its previous record (7.8 million contracts in January 2001) and also set a new record in March. The Bund future, with 16.2 million contracts traded in March and 48 million for the first quarter as a whole, is the world's most heavily traded derivatives contract. In the international equity options, Eurex again achieved new record results in March: The option on Nokia, with over one million contracts traded, beat the previous record set in January. Eurex has increased its turnover in this product 27 times over against the March 2000 figure; this makes Nokia one of the three most heavily traded stock options at Eurex. A new record was also set in the option on Sonera, with 90,000 contracts traded (previous record: 74,000 contracts in January 2001).

Through the continuous records of success in this segment, Eurex is further expanding its position as the leading platform for European stock options. A new record was also set in the index products with some 12.6 million contracts traded (previous record: 7.7 million contracts in September 2001). This is especially due to the derivatives on the DAX and Dow Jones Euro-STOXX 50, which set new records with their respective trading volumes of 6.1 million contracts (previous record: 4.5 million in January 2000) and 4.7 million contracts (previous record: 2.7 million contracts in December 2000). The volume in options on the Dax, with 4.4 million contracts traded, increased 71 percent from the previous year's March volume of 2.5 million contracts. Turnover in futures and options, respectively, on the Dow Jones Euro STOXX 50 was 136 percent and 144 percent higher than the March 2000 figures. The derivatives on the Nemax 50 also set a new record with 666,000 contracts traded, beating the previous record set in January 2001 (462,000 contracts) by 44 percent.

EUREX Trading Volumes since 1990
(in contracts traded)