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Nasdaq OMX keeps No. 1 spot in options market share

Published 11/01/2010, 12:49 PM
Updated 11/01/2010, 12:52 PM

* Nasdaq had 27.2 pct market share; CBOE had 26.6 pct

* ISE, ranked No. 4, says Nasdaq's figures "inflated"

* Trading at all U.S. options markets up 3.5 pct in Oct

By Ann Saphir

CHICAGO, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Nasdaq OMX Group's two options trading venues together handled more traffic than rival markets for a second straight month, figures from the Options Clearing Corp showed on Monday.

But those bragging rights came under immediate fire from Deutsche Boerse -owned International Securities Exchange, which repeated its view that Nasdaq unfairly inflates its market share with trades linked to bets on stock dividends.

More than a quarter of the 77.8 million contracts traded in October at Nasdaq's PHLX, formerly known as the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, were so-called dividend trades, ISE estimates released on Monday showed. The trades provide little economic value and pose a threat to market stability, ISE said.

Nasdaq, which gets almost no revenue from the trades, says they are legitimate and should not be treated differently. The exchange operator, which also runs the smaller NOM venue, handled 92.9 million contracts in October, or 27.2 percent of all U.S. stock and stock-index trades.

CBOE Holdings Inc, which launched its own second exchange on Friday, handled 26.6 percent of all trading, while NYSE Euronext , which operates Amex and NYSE Arca options, handled 24.3 percent.

ISE trailed at No. 4 with just 18 percent of the total, highlighting concerns that its Frankfurt-based parent will be forced to write down a large chunk of the value of the New York-based options market.

Deutsche Boerse warned last week that such a write-off was likely, following an earlier charge taken a year ago. [ID:nLDE69R1LY]

ISE, the only major options-exchange operator to have just one venue, is considering starting its own second market to win back customers.

All nine U.S. options exchanges together handled 342 million contracts last month, up 3.5 percent from last year. (Reporting by Ann Saphir; editing by Gunna Dickson)

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