Bull Market Hedging Was Boon for Exchange Volume in ’14: Options
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Three years without a correction in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index is spurring enough anxiety to keep options volume marching higher.
More than 16.9 million puts and calls a day changed hands last year on U.S. exchanges, up 3.7 percent from 2013, according to data from the Chicago-based Options Clearing Corp. That’s the highest level after an all-time high in 2011. Traders snapped up contracts to hedge against losses or speculate on more gains as American stocks posted their third consecutive advance exceeding 10 percent. The average daily volume this year was 17.6 million through yesterday.