Press

From September 1 through September 17, the international derivatives market Eurex is offering a fee holiday for futures trading on the Dow Jones Italy Titans 30 index. The fee holiday is meant to make it easier for participants to roll-over open positions held in comparable products on other exchanges into the new Eurex product. At present, a so-called "roll" is in effect: Participants wishing to hold on to positions beyond the expiration date of contracts close to maturity, buy or sell contracts with a later expiration date.

Eurex successfully introduced the future on the Dow Jones Italy Titans 30 index on July 19. Eurex has exhibited rising open interest and very tight bid/ask spreads and accounts now up to 29 percent of turnover in derivatives on Italian benchmark indices. On August 17, Eurex set a record turnover of 6,401 contracts in trading with the future.

On September 6, Eurex has expanded its Italian derivatives segment, adding options on the Dow Jones Italy Titans 30 Index. Eurex's Italian derivatives segment encompasses options on ten Italian stocks in addition to index derivatives. As a result of the cross-margining of options and futures on the Dow Jones Italy Titans 30 with derivatives on the DAX, EuroStoxx 50 and SMI, market participants benefit not only from expanded trading opportunities, but also from cost savings.

Since the beginning of the year, Eurex has exhibited rising volumes and tight spreads in trading of derivatives on Italian stocks and indexes. In the first eight months of this year, trading turnover for Italian stock options has doubled compared to the same period of last year.