The New York Mercantile Exchange Inc. said it set an annual volume record of 133.7 million futures and options contracts in 2002, smashing its previous record of 109.5 million contracts set in 1999. The 2002 volume also represented a 30% increase over the 103.1 million contracts traded in 2001.

However, the achievement was somewhat tainted by a lawsuit filed against the exchange by IntercontinentalExchange on Monday, charging Nymex with abuse of monopoly power (see related story).

The volume records include 116.1 million futures and options contracts traded on the Nymex Division, far surpassing the previous record of 89.2 million traded in 1999, and 17.6 million contracts traded on the Comex Division. Records were also set for electronic trading on the Nymex Access system with an annual volume of 4.9 million futures contracts, up from 2.6 million in 2001.

Light, sweet crude oil futures established a record of 45.7 million contracts, exceeding the previous record of 37.9 million contracts set in 1999. Natural gas futures volume of 24.4 million contracts broke the previous record of 19.2 million set in 1999. The total included 1.1 million traded on Access. Natural gas options trading totaled 11 million contracts, compared to the previous record of 6 million contracts set in 2001.

Exchange President J. Robert Collins Jr. also noted that the exchange also received record seat values and posted strong profitability in 2002. “The year not only marked a flight to the quality of the exchange’s well-established markets, but also the successful extension of the exchange’s core values and standards of excellence into new realms of business, including services for the over-the-counter and retail sectors.”

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