| April Options Volume & Market Share
OCC Cleared Contract Volume Up 27% On May 1, OCC announced overall exchange-listed options volume volume reached 398,481,297 contracts in April, up 29 percent from April 2017. Equity options volume reached a total of 356,177,370 contracts, a 32 percent increase from April 2017. This includes cleared ETF options volume of 164,495,446 contracts last month, a 27 percent increase over April 2017 volume of 129,366,338 contracts. Index options volume was up five percent with 42,303,927 contracts in April.
The options market share for April was (source: OCC):
| Exchange | Equity | Index/Other | Exchange Total | | Â | Volume | Market Share | Volume | Market Share | Volume | Market Share | | AMEX | 27,976,125 | 7.85% | 0 | 0.00% | 27,976,125 | 7.02% | | ARCA | 35,046,491 | 9.84% | 0 | 0.00% | 35,046,491 | 8.80% | | BATS | 36,576,757 | 10.27% | 0 | 0.00% | 36,576,757 | 9.18% | | BOX | 8,528,306 | 2.39% | 0 | 0.00% | 8,528,306 | 2.14% | | C2 | 12,875,987 | 3.62% | 215,761 | 0.51% | 13,091,748 | 3.29% | | CBOE | 58,844,852 | 16.52% | 41,723,002 | 98.63% | 100,567,854 | 25.24% | | EDGX | 8,069,063 | 2.27% | 0 | 0.00% | 8,069,063 | 2.02% | | GEM | 15,868,845 | 4.46% | 12,025 | 0.03% | 15,880,870 | 3.99% | | ISE | 28,732,187 | 8.07% | 76,658 | 0.18% | 28,808,845 | 7.23% | | MCRY | 533,889 | 0.15% | 0 | 0.00% | 533,889 | 0.13% | | MIAX | 15,707,143 | 4.41% | 0 | 0.00% | 15,707,143 | 3.94% | | MPRL | 14,750,698 | 4.14% | 0 | 0.00% | 14,750,698 | 3.70% | | NOBO | 1,693,961 | 0.48% | 0 | 0.00% | 1,693,961 | 0.43% | | NSDQ | 38,213,340 | 10.73% | 0 | 0.00% | 38,213,340 | 9.59% | | PHLX | 52,759,726 | 14.81% | 276,481 | 0.65% | 53,036,207 | 13.31% | | OCC Totals | 356,177,370 | 100.00% | 42,303,927 | 100.00% | 398,481,297 | 100.00% |
 Upcoming Economic Reports A preview of what may move the market this week
| TIME (ET) | REPORT | PERIOD | FORECAST | PREVIOUS | | MONDAY, MAY 7 | | 3:00 PM | Consumer credit | March | -- | $11 bln | | TUESDAY, MAY 8 | | 6 an | NFIB small business index | April | -- | 104.7 | | 10:00 AM | Job openings | March | -- | 6.1 mln | | WEDNESDAY, MAY 9 | | 8:30 AM | Producer price index | April | 0.30% | 0.30% | | 10:00 AM | Wholesale inventories | March | -- | 1.00% | | THURSDAY, MAY 10 | | 8.30 am | Weekly jobless claims | 5-May | 221,000 | 211,000 | | 8L30 am | Consumer price index | April | 0.30% | -0.10% | | 8:30 AM | Core CPI | April | 0.20% | 0.20% | | 2:00 PM | Federal budget | April | -- | $182bln | | FRIDAY, MAY 11 | | 8:30 AM | Import price index | April | -- | 0.00% | | 10:00 AM | Consumer sentiment | May | 98.8 | 98.8 |
 Options Insider Radio Network Episodes you may have missed from Options Insider Radio last week Options Insider Radio Interviews: Catching Up With the Options Flowmaster Posted May 4th, 2018 In this episode, Mark is live at the 2018 Options Industry Conference where he caught up with the Flowmaster himself, Henry Schwartz from Trade Alert. They discuss: State of the options industry Concentration of liquidity The optics of tight quotes versus thin liquidity Unintended consequences of auctions Volume data; where will the year end? Single stocks taking volume back from ETFs The controversy regarding VIX settlement What is coming next from Trade Alert? And more... Best of Option Block: Jedi vs. Sith vs. Earnings Posted May 4th, 2018 Originally Posted January 24th, 2017 Trading Block: The Trump Effect: President Donald Trump is set to unleash a cascade of stock-market anxiety - The day of reckoning for the Wall Street is here. McDonalds (MCD) earnings today. Friday close - $122.26; ATM Straddle - $3.52, approx. 3%; Open down $.75, Traded as low as $2.44; No more love for all-day breakfast. Odd Block: Calls and puts trade in Morgan Stanley (MS), calls trade in Home Depot Inc. (HD) and calls trade in Lending Club Corp (LC) Mail Block: Questions, Comments, Polls, and more Options #QuestionOfTheWeek Earnings Season awakens! How do you play earnings using options? Are you an Earnings #Jedi or #Sith? 41% - Dark Side (Short Premium) 26% - Light Side (Long Premium) 25% - No Side - Avoid earnings 08% - Other (Reply/DM w/ideas) Options #QuestionOfTheWeek - Lots of earnings on the horizon. Which company will outperform their earnings straddle by the largest margin? Alphabet - $GOOGL Microsoft - $MSFT Intel - $INTC Starbucks - $SBUX Listener questions and comments Comment from Steve Place - CREE it is always CREE Question from Chris - Is there a way to subscribe to your posts as they go up on the website so you can get notified via email or mobile phone? Thanks, Chris Question from Fundconcept - Do you think activist investors opportunities will rise considering their experience with mkt volatility? Around the Block/Earnings Highlights this Week: Tuesday - Alibaba Group, Verizon, Johnson & Johnson, 3M, Kimberly-Clark Wednesday - Boeing, Abbott Labs, eBay, Qualcomm, AT&T Thursday - Alphabet, PayPal, E-Trade, Microsoft, Southwest, Caterpillar, Intel Friday - Honeywell  Options Insider Radio Interviews: Talking Liquidity, Volatility and Options with NASDAQ Posted May 3rd, 2018 In this episode, Mark is live at the 2018 Options Industry Conference where he caught up with Kevin Kennedy, Senior Vice President of U.S. Derivatives at NASDAQ. They discuss: The trading floor at the PHLX The old floor versus the new floor What has been the 2018 trend for options so far? What a difference a year makes! What does Kevin anticipate for growth for the rest of the year? The trends in liquidity, and how to correct them How can we reverse the trend of people leaving the liquidity business? Thoughts on additional options exchanges Executing complex orders What are they doing in the volatility space? What's NASDAQ doing with crypto? And more...  Options Insider Radio Interviews: Talking Options Content with TD Ameritrade Posted May 3rd, 2018 In this episode, Mark is at the Options Industry Conference, where he caught up with JJ Kinahan, Chief Market Strategist and Managing Director at TD Ameritrade. They discuss: How has the integration with Scottrade gone? Focusing on options education with the new clients The evolution of options broker How options educational content is evolving How is the reception for TD Ameritrade's new content? How does TD Ameritrade build and foster a community? And more...  Options Playbook Radio 207: Hot Topics from the World of Options Posted May 3rd, 2018 Mark and Brian are on location at the Options Industry Conference, the annual event that brings everyone in the options industry together. They discuss: Specifically: Launching new products to meet retail investor needs Liquidity concerns Exchanges fragmenting liquidity through extra strikes and expirations What about price improvement? Unlimited quoting What did they learn at this year's event? Do you have a question that you want answered on a future episode? Send them to Brian at theoptionsguy@invest.ally.com, or to the Options Insider at questions@theoptionsinsider.com.  Option Block 712: AAPL, SNAP, TSLA Earnings Options Breakdown Posted May 1st, 2018 Trading Block: Earnings! Monday - McDonalds Tuesday - Apple, Snap Inc. Wednesday - Tesla Thursday - Activision/Blizzard, WWE Friday - CBOE Odd Block: Jan 2020 50 "catastrophe" puts in Tesla Motors Inc. (TSLA). Closing/rolling paper in ILG Inc. (ILG). Buying a put stupid in PowerShares DB US Dollar Index (UUP). Crazy put-paoolza in Sea Foods Co (DF) Strategy Block: Uncle Mike Tosaw discusses ways in which to look at covered calls in a channeling market. Around the Block/Economic Reports: Apr 30: Personal Income, Chicago PMI May 1: Construction Spending May 2: FOMC Meeting May 3: Jobless Claims, International Trade, Factory Orders May 4: Unemployment  This Week in Futures Options 100: The Volatile, and Controversial, World of Ags Posted April 30th, 2018 Today's special guest is Jared Caplan, Head of Commodities Trading, Akuna Capital. Topics this week include: Corn Soybeans Futures Options Feedback: In which the listeners take over. Question from T Mal - Jared, What is your opinion on the current speculative interest in corn/beans? It seems large right now. What is your opinion on the extremely large open interest? Corn open interest in particular is very large. Question from Adam Coker - Can you explain the nature of options liquidity for the Ags. They seem to have a unique trading structure that's focused around the planting and harvesting cycle. Are those the months that generally have the most volume and volatility?
Volatility Views 303: Harvesting Volatility with ETFs
Posted April 30th, 2018 Volatility Viewpoint: Today we are joined by Jonathan Molchan, Portfolio Manager, Horizons ETF Management. He discusses: What does Horizons ETF Management do? Horizons ETF products Why are there so few options-oriented ETFs? Volatility Review: A look back at the week from a volatility perspective. VIX Cash - 16.50 VVIX - 95 VIX Options - ADV: 943k, VIX call/put: 2.6/1, Total 7.06m (5.11m Calls, 1.96m Puts) VXX - 42.32 Earnings Volatility - AMZN, MSFT, INTC & GOOGL Volatility Voicemail: Options question of the week. We dig up many strange options positions at the Options Insider. Some seem credible while others are just head scratching. Which of the following open options positions do you think has the best chance of actually becoming a winner? 32% - 49K TSLA Jan 2019 50 P 32% - 197K VXX Jan 2019 10 P 25% - 65K GLD Jan 2019 200 C 11% - 146K SPY Dec 2019 150P Listener questions and comments: Question from Illir -So VXX Jan 10 puts are worth about .03. But VXX2 (or VXXB -not sure which) Jan 10 puts with exact same strike and days to expiration are worth 2.60 (a 1 lot just traded this morning)? Am I missing something? Comment from LLLC1 - I think the world just woke up to a new risk for vol products - "issuer panic risk." We all knew it was in the prospectus but now we've seen it materialize. I wonder how this will affect risk premiums in these products going forward. Question from Bortega - Why are there no options on VXAPL? Will there ever be options listed on this product? Crystal Ball: Wild prognosticating found here. Last week: Mark L. -16.35 Mark S. - 14.25 Mike Thompson - 15.85 This week: Mark L. - 16.05 Mark S. - 14.25 Jonathan Molchan: 15.25 Where to Find Options Insider Radio? Do you know all the ways you can access Options Insider Radio         Â
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