I, Development of the US Options Market
Early options trading in the US began in 1872, founded by the then famous financier Russell, and at that time included call and put options, the market was always OTC and required trading through brokers. The market lacked effective regulation at the time and it was not until 1934 when the SEC was established that regulation of the OTC options market began.
Influenced by early events such as the Tulip in Europe, as early as 1874, the state of Illinois banned a type of option trading known as preferential rights. The CBOT later introduced an option product called a sale or purchase guarantee, which was essentially an overnight option.
In 1932, there was an attempted manipulation of options on the CBOT market, known as the Wheat Crash. A dentist named Crawford, then of Edwards, led a number of speculators who tried to corner the wheat market by buying large quantities of wheat futures and call options, but in the end, it failed and the speculators panicked and began to sell off their large long positions, causing the spot price of wheat to plummet by 30% and dragging down the prices of corn, oats and rye. In 1936, the US Congress introduced the Commodity Exchange Act, which banned all commodity-related over-the-counter and over-the-counter options trading.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the US economy fell into recession due to factors such as the energy crisis and the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. In order to further promote economic development, the regulatory authorities shifted their attitude towards options and considered the development of options markets to be an insurmountable stage in the development of financial markets. Subsequently, the establishment of the CBOE in 1973 marked the birth of the modern options market, but only call options could be traded at the beginning of the birth of options, due to the restricted trading methods, options trading volume was very small, in order to activate the options market, in 1977, the SEC liberalized the trading of put options on stock options.
In 1974 the CFTC was established to legislate and regulate all commodity futures and options, and although stock options were allowed to be traded in 1973, the 1936 ban on commodity options remained in force. 1978 saw the CFTC ban retail trading of OTC non-farm commodity options due to a number of fraudulent incidents in the OTC retail market. However, this ban did not affect institutional and corporate options trading, mainly because many companies in the metals and energy sectors had been trading options for many years without any problems such as abuse, and therefore the CFTC did not see the need to interfere with normal business practices through legislation.
In late 1981, the focus shifted to the over-the-counter options market and the CFTC approved a three-year pilot program allowing each exchange to list one non-agricultural commodity option or financial option with a requirement that the underlying futures be of a certain size, which included gold options, and the pilot program was subsequently successful. in 1982, Congress lifted the ban on agricultural options and authorized the CFTC to undertake agricultural options. Beginning in 1984, the CFTC expanded the pilot program to allow exchanges to trade options on agricultural commodities. In 1983, the CFTC authorized options on stock index futures, including options on the NYSE composite index futures and options on the CME S&P500 stock index futures. In this way, the US options market has covered stock spot, commodity futures and stock index futures, and the derivatives market is taking shape.
In 1991, after years of trading in OTC options, the CFTC put forward a proposal to lift the ban on OTC options on agricultural commodities, but the proposal was scrapped due to a lack of consensus.
During the CFTC's three-year pilot project, options trading was problem-free and, as a result, options began to grow as fast as futures on the exchanges. Initially, whenever a future was listed, correspondingly options would be listed for trading. However, to this day, due to liquidity factors, only half of the active futures have corresponding options trading.
Since then, the US options market has entered a phase of rapid development and continuous innovation, and by 2012, there were 10 trading markets in the US where options were traded, and the volume of options trading was comparable to that of futures trading.
II, Other options markets in the Americas
1,Canadian options market
Canada's derivatives exchange for Winnipeg Commodity Exchange in the early days, was acquired by ICE in 2007, renamed ICE Futures Canada. options varieties are canola oil, barley, wheat and hard sell options contracts. Among them, canola oil options were listed in 1991, the underlying canola oil futures contract was listed in 1963, and wheat, barley and hard wheat futures and options contracts were all listed for trading in 2012.
2, Brazil options market situation
The options varieties with large trading volumes on the Brazilian BM&F Exchange are mainly gold spot options, live cattle futures options and cash-settled corn options. Among them, gold spot options were listed and traded in 1986, live cattle futures options were listed and traded in 2011, and corn options were listed and traded in 2008.
3,Argentina options market situation
Argentina ROSAIRO futures trading all agricultural options, gold options and WTI crude oil options, of which gold options have the largest trading volume.
III, European options market situation
Early over-the-counter options appeared on the Belgian Antwerp Exchange in 1531, when a cash-settled commodity option contract called "to arrive" was introduced and speculative trading was prevalent. The Dutch Tulip Bubble of 1637 had a somewhat negative impact on the development of options. According to Houghton's records, options in London began in the late 17th century, mainly through over-the-counter trading, with the emergence of a profession of brokers specializing in the buying, selling and settlement of options, called 'stockjobbing'. At that time, the option was an American-style option and was delivered in physical stock upon exercise.
1, The London International Financial Futures Exchange (LIFFE) was established in 1982 and was the earliest and most actively traded financial futures exchange in Europe, with only short-term interest rate futures and options trading at the beginning. 1992 saw the merger of the LIFFE with the London Options Exchange, and in 1996 with the London Mercantile Exchange, making it the largest derivatives exchange in Europe at the time, with in 2002, it was acquired by Euronext, and in 2007, Euronext was acquired by NYSE.
2, The London Metal Exchange currently trades futures options contracts on copper, aluminum, lead and zinc, and currently has a total of 12 options contracts including parity options. lame copper futures options were launched in 1987. in 1997, the lame also launched cash settled parity options on copper futures.
3, ICE Brent crude oil options are the most traded commodity options in Europe, listed for trading after 1988, and there are currently 13 options contracts in the ICE Europe division.
4, Eura commodity derivatives include futures and options contracts based on the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index and cash-settled gold and silver futures and options contracts. Options contracts on gold and silver were listed for trading in 2009, and EUREX has the largest volume of stock index options traded, accounting for approximately 81.4% of total European trading volume in 2011.
5, FORTS, the derivatives trading market of the Moscow Stock Exchange, listed gold options, refined silver options, platinum options and Brent crude oil options respectively in 2010, with gold options having the largest trading volume.
IV, Australian options market situation
The Sydney Futures Exchange merged with the Australian Securities Exchange in 2006 to form the ASX Exchange Group, and ASX's Western Australia wheat futures and options began trading in 2011. The former SFX's wheat futures and options were listed and traded in 1996. After the listing of Western Australia wheat, the former wheat futures and options were renamed NSW wheat.
V， Asian options market situation
1，Taiwan, China
Currently, Taiwan is the only region in which the Taiwan Futures Exchange launched an options contract based on LBMA gold spot in 2009, with a trading volume of 75,000 lots in 2012, ranking 327th in the global commodity futures and options ranking.
2, India
India introduced the Forward Contracts Regulation Act in 1952, which prohibits over-the-counter commodity options trading, and as a result, no Indian exchanges have yet launched commodity options trading. Currently the Indian stock exchange has CNX NIFTY (India 50) stock index futures and stock index options.
3, Japanese market
Japan's Tokyo Industrial Products Exchange listed gold futures options in 2004, but its trading has been relatively light.
VI, African options market situation
South African Stock Exchange is the largest exchange in Africa, options varieties are agricultural options, energy options and precious metal options. Agricultural products options include white maize, yellow maize, wheat and soybeans, etc. Energy products include crude oil, and precious metals include gold and platinum. The most traded option is the white corn option, which was listed in 1998; its crude oil option and gold option are cash settled, and the underlying are COMEX gold futures and NYMEX WTI crude oil futures respectively, both listed and traded in 2009.
