NEW YORK, September 7, 2012 – The International Securities Exchange (ISE) today announced that it has received SEC approval to introduce $0.50 strike price intervals in weekly options. The exchange began listing weekly options in the more granular $0.50 strikes yesterday, offering an expanded range of strike prices and potentially a lower cost of entry to investors who are using weekly options to effect their trading and hedging strategies. This new program extends to weekly options classes that currently trade in one dollar increments, and all other contract terms remain unchanged.

“The weekly options program has become one of the most popular product offerings and strongest growth areas since its industry-wide expansion two years ago,” said Boris Ilyevsky, Managing Director of ISE’s options exchange. “The introduction of $0.50 strike price intervals will attract further interest from investors who are seeking greater trading opportunities and the ability to more closely tailor their investment and risk management strategies.”

The new program will apply to the ninety-three underlyings with weekly options classes that trade in dollar strike price intervals. Weekly options currently represent approximately 11.7 percent* of industry-wide options volume.

*Source: OCC/Tabb Group data through August, 2012.

About ISE
The International Securities Exchange (ISE) operates a leading U.S. options exchange and offers options trading on over 2,000 underlying equity, ETF, index, and FX products. As the first all-electronic options exchange in the U.S., ISE transformed the options industry by creating efficient markets through innovative market structure and technology. Regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and a member-owner of OCC, ISE provides investors with a transparent marketplace for price and liquidity discovery on centrally cleared options products. ISE continues to expand its marketplace through the ongoing development of enhanced trading functionality, new products, and market data services. As a complement to its options business, ISE has expanded its reach into multiple asset classes through strategic investments in financial marketplaces and services that foster technology innovation and market efficiency. Through minority investments, ISE participates in the securities lending and equities markets. ISE also licenses its proprietary Longitude technology for trading in event-driven markets.

As a member of Eurex Group, ISE is combined with Eurex Exchange to form one of the largest transatlantic derivatives marketplaces, with daily trading volumes exceeding 10 million contracts in 2011 across a growing range of asset classes.

Eurex Group is comprised of Eurex Exchange, the International Securities Exchange, the European Energy Exchange, Eurex Clearing, Eurex Bonds and Eurex Repo.

Eurex Group is owned by Deutsche Börse AG (Xetra: DB1).

CONTACT:

Media:
Molly H. McGregor
International Securities Exchange
212-897-0275
mmcgregor@ise.com