Options trading statistics at a glance
Options trading activity remained heavy across 2024, with monthly volume moving through clear seasonal swings while the year ended with record-scale clearing and open interest figures. The numbers below keep the focus on what the statistics show month by month and across the full year, using only the reported figures and source labels.
Table of contents
- Fast facts
- Monthly options volume
- Equity ETF and index mix
- Securities lending activity
- Full-year OCC and Cboe totals
- What the pattern shows
Fast facts
- January 2024 total options volume was 979,538,715 contracts, up 6.6% from 919,299,256 in January 2023 (OCC January 2024 Monthly Volume Data).
- May 2024 total options volume reached 1,100,215,948 contracts, up 32.8% from 828,863,229 in May 2023 (OCC May 2024 Monthly Volume Data).
- August 2024 total options volume was 1,060,360,119 contracts, up 4.1% from 1,018,181,676 in August 2023 (OCC August 2024 Monthly Volume Data).
- November 2024 total options volume was 1,120,875,419 contracts, up 22.1% from 917,822,113 in November 2023 (OCC November 2024 Monthly Volume Data).
- OCC cleared 12.3 billion contracts in 2024, with $297 billion margin held at year end and $19.1 billion clearing fund held at year end (2024 OCC Annual Report).
- OCC reported 511 million total options open interest at year end 2024 (2024 OCC Annual Report).
- Cboe said total volume across its four options exchanges was 3.8 billion contracts in 2024, with 14.95 million ADV (Cboe Global Markets Reports Trading Volume for December and Full Year 2024).
The broad takeaway from the dataset is simple: options trading stayed enormous every month, and the year ended with large open interest and clearing balances rather than a late-year fade (2024 OCC Annual Report).
Monthly options volume
The monthly OCC figures show a market that stayed close to or above the 1 billion contract level in many months, with February, April, May, July, August, October, and November all clearing that threshold (OCC Monthly Volume Data).
2024 monthly snapshot
| Month | Total options volume | Year-over-year change | Total volume across options and futures |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 979,538,715 | +6.6% | 984,354,494 |
| February | 971,592,769 | +10.0% | 975,857,099 |
| March | 943,458,874 | -10.4% | 947,800,970 |
| April | 1,020,436,747 | +34.1% | 1,027,244,518 |
| May | 1,100,215,948 | +32.8% | 1,106,234,984 |
| June | 948,196,244 | +7.2% | 952,743,795 |
| July | 1,095,811,842 | +25.4% | 1,100,220,191 |
| August | 1,060,360,119 | +4.1% | 1,066,012,498 |
| September | 998,201,306 | +6.0% | 1,004,305,292 |
| October | 1,055,215,837 | +10.2% | 1,060,000,112 |
| November | 1,120,875,419 | +22.1% | 1,125,343,690 |
Two things stand out in the table. First, the market never drifted far from intense activity, even in softer months such as March and June. Second, the biggest year-over-year gains came in spring and summer, with April, May, and July all showing double-digit expansion (OCC Monthly Volume Data).
Highest and lowest months
- Highest total options volume: November 2024 at 1,120,875,419 contracts (OCC November 2024 Monthly Volume Data).
- Next highest: May 2024 at 1,100,215,948 contracts and July 2024 at 1,095,811,842 contracts (OCC May 2024 Monthly Volume Data; OCC July 2024 Monthly Volume Data).
- Lowest total options volume in the listed months: March 2024 at 943,458,874 contracts (OCC March 2024 Monthly Volume Data).
- Biggest year-over-year jump in total options volume among the listed months: April 2024 at +34.1% (OCC April 2024 Monthly Volume Data).
- Sharpest year-over-year decline among the listed months: March 2024 at -10.4% (OCC March 2024 Monthly Volume Data).
That spread matters because it shows the market was not monotonic. Instead of one straight climb, options activity moved in waves, with a strong rebound after March and renewed strength into late autumn (OCC Monthly Volume Data).
Equity ETF and index mix
The monthly mix across equity, ETF, and index options helps explain where the activity sat inside the broader total.
Category comparison by month
| Month | Equity options | ETF options | Index options |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 501,493,722 | 390,467,813 | 87,577,180 |
| February | 521,543,021 | 367,236,348 | 82,813,400 |
| March | 498,211,676 | 363,007,938 | 82,239,260 |
| April | 490,980,112 | 432,600,457 | 96,856,178 |
| May | 545,544,620 | 470,504,257 | 84,167,071 |
| June | 503,652,151 | 359,888,073 | 84,656,020 |
| July | 614,972,701 | 395,655,381 | 85,183,760 |
| August | 577,921,409 | 392,542,716 | 89,895,994 |
| September | 531,307,509 | 383,283,732 | 83,610,065 |
| October | 555,568,397 | 407,234,289 | 92,723,711 |
| November | 614,972,701 | 425,434,788 | 80,467,930 |
The mix shows a clear pattern: equity and ETF options dominated, while index options remained smaller but still substantial. July and November stand out in equity volume, while May and November show particularly strong ETF participation (OCC Monthly Volume Data).
Source labels that matter here
- Equity options reached 614,972,701 contracts in July 2024 and again 614,972,701 contracts in November 2024 according to the OCC Monthly Volume Data.
- ETF options peaked in the listed months at 470,504,257 contracts in May 2024, with another strong reading of 425,434,788 contracts in November 2024 (OCC May 2024 Monthly Volume Data; OCC November 2024 Monthly Volume Data).
- Index options hit a monthly high in the listed months at 96,856,178 contracts in April 2024, then stayed in a narrower band through year end (OCC April 2024 Monthly Volume Data; OCC October 2024 Monthly Volume Data; OCC November 2024 Monthly Volume Data).
Year-over-year category signals
The year-over-year changes tell a different story from the absolute volumes.
- April 2024 ETF options volume was up 40.0% year over year, a much faster rise than the month’s equity options increase of 27.7% (OCC April 2024 Monthly Volume Data).
- May 2024 equity options volume was up 34.9% year over year, while ETF options were up 37.9% year over year (OCC May 2024 Monthly Volume Data).
- July 2024 equity options volume was up 34.7% year over year, outpacing ETF options at +21.2% year over year (OCC July 2024 Monthly Volume Data).
- October 2024 index options volume fell 7.9% year over year even while total options volume rose 10.2% year over year (OCC October 2024 Monthly Volume Data).
The important point is that “options trading” was not moving as one uniform block. Equity, ETF, and index lines each had their own speed and direction inside the same broad market (OCC Monthly Volume Data).
Securities lending activity
The dataset also includes securities-lending market loan plus hedge totals, which give a second lens on market scale and financing activity.
Daily averages and transactions
| Month | Loan plus hedge total average per day | Year-over-year change | Transactions |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | $148,051,738,889 | +22.0% | 222,403 |
| February | $154,774,637,195 | +31.6% | 200,117 |
| March | $164,442,116,102 | +24.3% | 219,635 |
| April | $161,457,385,357 | +22.0% | 246,033 |
| May | $157,208,160,593 | +16.6% | 230,310 |
| June | $163,387,040,972 | +19.5% | 232,269 |
| July | $167,156,485,940 | +18.4% | 243,711 |
| August | $168,392,300,751 | +14.7% | 260,287 |
| September | $171,242,450,126 | +16.1% | 248,512 |
| October | $176,584,917,204 | +14.4% | 252,944 |
| November | $180,227,950,881 | +13.1% | 271,846 |
The lending figures climbed steadily into year end. November had the highest average daily loan plus hedge total in the listed months, while February had the strongest year-over-year percentage increase at 31.6% (OCC Monthly Volume Data).
What to notice in the lending line
- The average daily total rose from $148,051,738,889 in January to $180,227,950,881 in November (OCC Monthly Volume Data).
- Transaction counts were also generally higher in the second half of the year, culminating in 271,846 in November (OCC November 2024 Monthly Volume Data).
- August showed 260,287 transactions, which was the highest transaction count among the months listed before November (OCC August 2024 Monthly Volume Data).
These figures do not measure options volume directly, but they reinforce the larger scale of activity moving through the market ecosystem alongside options trading (OCC Monthly Volume Data).
Full-year OCC and Cboe totals
The year-end numbers provide the best summary of scale.
OCC annual report highlights
- OCC cleared 12.3 billion contracts in 2024 (2024 OCC Annual Report).
- OCC held $297 billion margin at year end and $19.1 billion clearing fund at year end (2024 OCC Annual Report).
- OCC reported 511 million total options open interest at year end 2024 (2024 OCC Annual Report).
- OCC 2024 performance highlights showed average daily call volume of 7.6 million contracts and average daily put volume of 5.9 million contracts (2024 OCC Annual Report).
- OCC 2024 performance highlights showed 356 average contracts per cleared trade and average premium per contract of $443 (2024 OCC Annual Report).
- OCC 2024 performance highlights showed average month-end open interest of 802 million contracts and 50 million contracts exercised (2024 OCC Annual Report).
Cboe annual report highlights
- Cboe said total volume across its four options exchanges was 3.8 billion contracts in 2024, with 14.95 million ADV (Cboe Global Markets Reports Trading Volume for December and Full Year 2024).
- Cboe’s proprietary index options suite traded 1.03 billion contracts in 2024, with 4.1 million ADV (Cboe Global Markets Reports Trading Volume for December and Full Year 2024).
- SPX options traded 784.2 million contracts in 2024, with 3.1 million ADV (Cboe Global Markets Reports Trading Volume for December and Full Year 2024).
- VIX options traded 209.2 million contracts, with 830 thousand ADV (Cboe Global Markets Reports Trading Volume for December and Full Year 2024).
- XSP options traded 17.6 million contracts, with 69 thousand ADV (Cboe Global Markets Reports Trading Volume for December and Full Year 2024).
- In Q4 2024, zero-days-to-expiry trading in SPX comprised 51% of overall SPX volumes, a quarterly record (Cboe Global Markets Reports Trading Volume for December and Full Year 2024).
These annual figures matter because they turn the monthly story into a full-market picture. The monthly OCC data shows repeated multi-hundred-million-contract prints, while the annual reports show the infrastructure and exchange volume that supported that scale (2024 OCC Annual Report; Cboe Global Markets Reports Trading Volume for December and Full Year 2024).
What the pattern shows
The safest reading of the data is that options trading remained structurally large throughout 2024 and did not depend on one isolated spike.
Core observations
- Monthly total options volume stayed near or above 1 billion contracts in many months, with several sharp peaks above that line (OCC Monthly Volume Data).
- Spring and summer brought the strongest year-over-year growth in total volume, especially April, May, and July (OCC Monthly Volume Data).
- Equity and ETF options were the dominant categories, while index options were smaller but still important and occasionally volatile (OCC Monthly Volume Data).
- Year-end clearing, open interest, and margin figures remained extremely large, showing that the market closed the year at high scale rather than in contraction (2024 OCC Annual Report).
- Cboe’s 2024 exchange totals add another layer of confirmation that the options market was active at major scale across the year (Cboe Global Markets Reports Trading Volume for December and Full Year 2024).
A practical way to read the numbers
If you want the short version of the full dataset, it is this: options volume was consistently heavy, the spring and late-year months were especially strong, and the year ended with large clearing balances and open interest still in place (OCC Monthly Volume Data; 2024 OCC Annual Report).
Quick data takeaways
- Total options volume ranged from 943,458,874 contracts in March to 1,120,875,419 contracts in November among the listed months (OCC March 2024 Monthly Volume Data; OCC November 2024 Monthly Volume Data).
- Total volume across options and futures stayed above 900 million contracts every month listed and crossed 1 billion contracts in many months (OCC Monthly Volume Data).
- Securities-lending market loan plus hedge totals rose from $148,051,738,889 per day in January to $180,227,950,881 per day in November (OCC Monthly Volume Data).
- Cboe reported 3.8 billion contracts across its four options exchanges for 2024, while OCC reported 12.3 billion contracts cleared for the year (2024 OCC Annual Report; Cboe Global Markets Reports Trading Volume for December and Full Year 2024).