Options Lunch With the New Exchange

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tdp2664 InvestorPlace Your intraday option s trading update. Does the option world need another exchange? Shelly Brown and his team at the Miami International Securities Exchange think so and are preparing to file with regulators all the paper work needed to get the trading going. Brown, senior VP, strategic planning with the Princeton, N.J-based exchange, told Options Lunch the Miami exchange (MISE for short?) will offer all new technology, quick-order action and huge bandwidth. "We are starting from scratch and building options trading systems. (Current options exchanges) have legacy systems," originally built for equity trading, said Brown. "We will be more flexible, provide more through-put and faster speeds." Brown is a veteran of the options trading world. He has been with the NASDAQ OMX, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange when NASDAQ swallowed it, and most recently was with PEAK 6 Investments, owner of the OptionsHouse brokerage. There are now nine options exchanges in the U.S. Total options trading volume set a record in March with more than 417 million contracts changing hands. The overall leader was the Chicago Board Options Exchange which dominates index options with such products as the so-called "Fear Index," the CBOE Volatility Index (CBOE: VIX ), and the S&P Index Options (CBOE: SPX ). The top exchange for equity options in March was the NASDAQ OMX PHLX which held nearly 24% of that market. Brown says Miami International plans to file all the right forms with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the next three months. The goal is to begin trading in the second quarter of 2012, he said. According to reports, the Miami exchange has about 20 employees and a second office in Miami. Good luck to the MISE team. But watch your tails, there are some big cats out there. High Options Volume by Strike Top trading strike is the Industrial SPDR (NYSE: XLF ) with the XLF Jun11 40 Call trading a little more than 101,000 contracts, up .04 to .43. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT ) selling off a little with the MSFT AprWk5 26 Call trading about 65,000 contracts. Its down .88 to .03. Time is ticking. Citigroup (NYSE: C ) Jan12 7.5 Call trades about 52,000 contracts, unch at .02. Also busy is iShares Russell 2000 ETF (NYSE: IWM ) with several strikes including the IWM May 11 88 Put trading 43,525 contracts, down .38 to 2.23.