ICE, NYSE Set Record Volumes After Middle East Strikes
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- ICE reported its busiest day on record on March 3, with 35 million futures and options contracts changing hands after U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran.
- ICE said commodity markets set repeated records for open interest throughout March, reaching an all‑time high on March 25.
- Ben Jackson, ICE’s president, said the exchange’s liquid crude oil benchmarks and differential contracts help customers manage supply risk, arbitrage flows, and price volatility.
- NYSE saw a record 3.57 billion shares traded in its closing auction on March 20, with a notional value of $230.5 billion.
- Credit default swaps also hit fresh records on March 20, reflecting heightened demand for credit risk insurance.
- Volatile markets tend to lift exchange revenues as investors trade more frequently and use derivatives to manage risk, driving higher transaction fees across asset classes.
Why it matters: Exchanges capture higher fees as traders flood them with derivatives and equities, while investors gain liquidity for risk management; the surge also signals heightened risk premiums for oil and credit markets, boosting exchange revenues and reinforcing the role of derivatives in volatile geopolitical periods.
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