In July, Eurex, Europe’s largest derivatives exchange and part of Deutsche Börse Group, has seen strong demand for its equity products. Traded equity contracts were up by 76 percent to 23,790,806 from 13,506,099 in July 2017. Demand was particularly high for Single Stock Dividend Futures (+87 percent) with 435,018 traded contracts.

Overall, the trading volume at Eurex increased by 9 percent to 109,870,543 from 100,888,442 in July 2017. In the Equity Index Segment, volumes went up by 10 percent to 55,354,047. Turnover in the Fixed Income space declined by 17 percent to 30,723,777 traded contracts.

Eurex’ recently launched EURO STOXX 50® options with month-end expirations had a successful start with nearly 40,000 traded contracts. Introduced on 9 July, the product is another part of Eurex’ buy-side initiative as it meets the needs of insurers and other market participants that offer pension schemes linked to the performance of the EURO STOXX 50® index. 

In the past these clients turned to the over-the-counter (OTC) market to hedge the resulting exposure. By offering EURO STOXX 50® options with month-end expirations, Eurex took another step in the exchange’s efforts to facilitate the ongoing transition from tailor-made OTC products into an exchange traded and cleared environment that is part of the strategy of Deutsche Börse Group.