According to Futures Industry Association statistics, the number of futures and options traded on U.S. exchanges dropped 13.2% in 2012 to 7.0 billion contracts, down from 2011’s 8.1 billion contracts.?
In December, total U.S. futures and options volume fell 2.8% to 517.5 million contracts, down from the previous year’s 532.2 million contracts.
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The FIA’s press release included the additional 2012 volume numbers:
- Futures-only volume fell by 15.1% to 2.6 billion contracts vs. 2011’s 3.1 billion.
- Options volume at U.S. exchanges regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission dropped 10.1% to 449 million contracts, down from 499.6 million, while options volume at exchanges regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission fell 12.3% to 4.0 billion contracts from 4.6 billion.
- Per sector, interest rate futures volume fell 21.1%; energy futures volume fell 4.1%, foreign currency futures volume fell 9.0%, and equity index futures volume fell 20.0%. Agricultural commodities and non-precious metals were the only sectors that saw increases in both futures and options volume during the year. Agricultural commodities futures volume increased 5.6% and options volume rose 3.7%.
- Non-precious metals futures volume increased 29.2% while options volume surged 137.3%.
- Open interest stood at 337.7 million contracts on U.S. exchanges at the end of December, a 10.1% fall from the previous year’s 375.8 million contracts.
- November data for non-U.S. futures and options volume (most recent available), showed a decline of 24.4% to 1.1 billion contracts from 1.4 billion contracts.
- For 2012’s first 11 months, total non-U.S. futures and options volume fell by 17.3% to 13.0 billion contracts from 15.7 billion contracts. During that time, this compares to non-U.S. futures-only volume dropping 9.3% to 7.7 billion contracts from 8.5 billion; options volume fell 26.6% to 5.3 billion contracts from 7.2 billion.