- 25 Jan 2022
- By CME Group
2021 was an eventful year for the options on futures market. Overall average daily volume (ADV) increased by 6% year over year, reaching 3.3M contracts, and open interest (OI) averaged 54.6M daily contracts.
We're excited to see what new trends and opportunities this year brings to the options market. One clear trend that has emerged in early 2022 trading is the growing interest in SOFR options, where OI has jumped from 3K to 77K contracts in just three weeks.
- Agriculture options ADV increased 10% YoY to an all-time record of 273K contracts, bolstered by record ADV in Corn options.
- Interest Rate options ADV was up 9% YoY, with yield curve uncertainty and inflation concerns driving elevated activity in Treasury options.
- Equity Index options ADV rose 6% YoY, with record ADV in both E-mini Nasdaq-100 options and E-mini Russell 2000 options.
- Weekly expiring options saw outsized trading across asset classes as short-term volatility returned:
- E-mini Nasdaq-100 weeklies +113%
- Treasury weeklies +64%
- WTI weeklies +47%
- Ag weeklies +24%
- CAD/USD weeklies +23%
- Gold weeklies +17%
Most active options products by ADV - 2021
| Product | 2021 ADV | ADV % YoY | 2021 Avg. Daily OI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eurodollars | 1,059,318 | 0% | 34,241,851 |
| E-mini S&P 500 | 701,362 | 4% | 3,386,276 |
| 10-Year Note | 633,670 | 26% | 3,069,592 |
| 5-Year Note | 160,094 | 31% | 1,070,583 |
| T-Bond | 129,682 | 3% | 682,894 |
| Corn | 126,544 | 31% | 1,717,252 |
| WTI Crude Oil | 123,093 | 3% | 2,008,445 |
| Natural Gas | 94,157 | -16% | 2,468,674 |
| Soybeans | 73,154 | 9% | 802,614 |
| Gold | 41,036 | -31% | 897,958 |
Growing pools of options liquidity
| Product | 2021 ADV | ADV % YoY | 2021 Avg. Daily OI |
|---|---|---|---|
| E-mini Nasdaq-100 | 27,706 | 74% | 83,472 |
| Short-Dated New Crop | 9,080 | 159% | 117,464 |
| Gold weeklies | 8,059 | 17% | 22,587 |
| E-mini Russell 2000 | 6,063 | 110% | 44,799 |
| CAD/USD | 5,885 | 56% | 131,550 |
| Corn weeklies | 5,611 | 23% | 11,973 |
| WTI weeklies | 4,021 | 47% | 9,176 |
| Copper | 2,971 | 76% | 58,009 |
| Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 | 1,757 | 1057% | 5,632 |
| Micro E-mini S&P 500 | 1,556 | 355% | 40,026 |
Source: CME Group
Access the latest 2021 options resources:
Sign up to receive actionable insights on trading options on futures, provided by Rich Excell, a veteran institutional trader who successfully managed multi-billion-dollar portfolios. This bi-weekly report will be provided every other Tuesday morning (CT).
Concerned by volatility in the corn market? Learn how to use a min-max contract, or an options spread, to hedge downside risk in corn despite rising input costs.
Nasdaq-100 Volatility Index futures are now available in a smaller contract size, 1/10 of the original size. Learn more about the VOLQ Index in this article, and how it derives its value from 32 different Nasdaq-100 Index options.
Join David Gibbs, Director of Education at CME Group, for the U.S. Treasury Futures: Risk Management webinar on February 9. The webinar will cover Treasury Analytics, the Open Interest Heat Map, and the Options Calculator ‒ all tools powered by QuikStrike.
Check out the most frequently used QuikStrike options tools from 2021:
© 2023 CME Group Inc. All rights reserved.