Executives at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), the all-electronic US equity options market, could be forgiven for being a little nervous as they prepare for the launch of their cash equity market, which is slated to open for business some time in the third quarter. But if the project turns out to be not as successful as hoped, they can at least take heart from the fact that their existing business is booming like never before.
Average daily trading volume for equity and index options contracts for June was up 45% to 2.2 million contracts from 1.5 million traded in the same period in 2005, rounding off a first half of the year in...
