March marked the end of a quarter that had the highest volume of total cleared contracts in Options Clearing Corporation’s (OCC) history.
The world’s largest equity derivatives clearing organisation’s total cleared contract volume for the month was 904 million contracts, the highest volume month on record and up 34.8 per cent compared to March 2020.
Regarding securities lending, the average daily loan value at OCC last month was $119.12 billion, a 75.4 per cent increase compared to March 2020. Central cleared securities lending activity also increased by 17.8 per cent in new loans from March 2020, with 143,987 transactions.
The organisation’s year-to-date average daily cleared contract volume through March was 42 million contracts, up 48.7 percent compared to the same month last year.
Equity options cleared contract volume — including the exchange-traded fund options cleared contract volume of 269 million, an 11.2 per cent decrease — was 857 million contracts, up 45.1 per cent compared to March 2020.
March’s total exchange-listed options cleared contract volume was 899 million, up 35.6 per cent compared to the same month last year.
The OCC saw similarly dizzying figures in February. Its securities lending central counterparty (CCP) activity saw its average daily loan value for February increase 43.4 per cent compared to February 2020, hitting $115.7 billion.
