Since August 2010 Eurex Exchange has, in its cooperation with the Korea Exchange Inc. (KRX), provided market participants trading and hedging opportunities for KOSPI 200 positions during core European and North American trading hours. The listed daily futures on the KOSPI 200 Options (Eurex KOSPI Product) are denominated in Korean Won (KRW) and always settle into corresponding positions on KRX at the start of the next trading day in Korea. Thus, the extension of trading hours and access to the KOSPI 200 Options through the Eurex platform has made a key contribution to the further development and globalization of the KOSPI 200 derivatives market.
The volume of the Eurex-KOSPI product has continuously increased, even though the underlying to this product, the KRX’s KOSPI 200 Options contract has stalled since an increase in value of the contract from 100,000 KRW per index point to 500,000 KRW in 2012.
In 2015 YTD, the Eurex-KOSPI product ranks on average on the 12th place of all Eurex contracts in terms of monthly traded contract volume. With the increased volatility on the global equity markets since mid-2015 the volume has again grown. For example, the average daily contract volume of the Eurex-KOSPI product has been 40 percent higher in July to September 2015 than during the same time period in 2014. Already at the end of April 2015, the accumulated trading volume of the Eurex-KOSPI product had exceeded the 100 million contract mark since its launch. Furthermore, up to the current date, we have seen steady growth in participants, at Eurex and at KRX alike.
Currently 25 Eurex Exchange and 22 KRX participants use the Eurex/KRX-Link, with two more participants expected to join shortly. The daily trading volume of the Eurex-KOSPI product equates around 5 percent of the daily volume of the KOSPI 200 options traded at the KRX.