International Securities Exchange

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International Securities Exchange

Type	Exchange
Founded	May 26, 2000
Headquarters	New York
Key people	Gary Katz, CEO
Products	Options, Stock, Alternative Markets, Market Data
Website	www.ise.com

International Securities Exchange Holdings, Inc, International Securities Exchange Holdings, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of German derivatives exchange Eurex.

Founded in 2000, the ISE began its inception in 1997 when then-chairman of E-Trade, William A. Porter and his colleague, Marty Averbuch. They approached David Krell and Gary Katz about their concept and the four founded what is today the International Securities Exchange, the world’s largest equity options exchange to date.

Launched as the first fully-electronic US options exchange, ISE developed a unique market structure for advanced screen-based trading and now is among the leading options exchanges in the world.

The exchange currently consists of an options exchange, a stock exchange, an alternative markets platform and market data. ISE offers index options, including a portfolio of proprietary index products, and enhanced market data products for sophisticated investors. ISE FX Options launched in April 2007.

ISE Stock Exchange launched in September 2006 with strategic partners. It includes a MidPoint Match platform which offers investors continuous price improvement. MidPoint Match was integrated with a fully-displayed Best Bid Offer (BBO) market in the fourth quarter of 2006.

ISE’s alternative markets business currently consists of an events market trading platform known as Longitude. Longitude’s patented and proprietary technology provides a parimutuel structure for derivatives auctions which results in greater trading and pricing flexibility for market participants.

1 ISE Options & Stock Exchange
2 Timeline
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] ISE Options & Stock Exchange

The ISE Options Exchange currently lists over 1200 equity, index, ETF and quarterly options. Most recently, the exchange also began trading FX options, options based on foreign currency movements. ISE introduced index options in October 2003 and later in 2004 launched ISE Sector Indexes; industry indexes that track the performance of publicly traded companies in various industries. In 2007, ISE announced a partnership with First Trust to launch ETFs based on ISE proprietary indexes. The Exchange also announced a partnership with U.S. Futures Exchange (USFE) to launch several cash-settled futures contracts based on the ISE family of proprietary indexes.

FX Options were launched in April 2007. These options are exchange-listed securities that can be accessed through most major brokerage accounts. All ISE FX Options have U.S. Dollar-based underlying values, which have an underlying value similar to traditional equity or index options and are cash-settled, eliminating the need to hold the actual foreign currency.

The ISE Stock Exchange is an electronic marketplace offering two primary capabilities on one platform: MidPoint Match is an exchange-based, non-displayed market. Members can use MidPoint Match to trade equities instantaneously at the exact midpoint price of the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO). Displayed market is a fully-electronic displayed market of the Best Bid and Offer trading the common stocks and ETFs listed on the NYSE, Nasdaq and Amex.

ISE Alternative Markets provides enhanced risk management tools for investors through the creation of products in economic derivatives, corporate earnings options, property derivatives, catastrophe risk and asset volatility products, all traded on a patented, parimutuel trading platform called Longitude.

[edit] Timeline

2000	February 24, 2000: Registered as a national securities exchange with the Securities and Exchange Commission May 26, 2000: Launched its Options Exchange - the first transaction was a purchase of 20 SBC Communications October 45 calls.
2001	May 29, 2001: Traded its 25 millionth contract. November 1, 2001: Became the 3rd largest U.S. equity options exchange when average daily volume for October 2001 reached 380,299 contracts.^{[citation needed]}
2002	May 22, 2002: ISE achieved its goal of listing equity options representing 90% of average daily trading volume in the US options industry.^{[citation needed]} October 29, 2002: Traded its 200 millionth contract.
2003	February 20, 2003: Traded its 250 millionth contract. March 1, 2003: Became the largest US equity options exchange after average daily volume for February 2003 reached 710,218 contracts..^{[citation needed]}
2004	January 2004: Was named Derivatives Exchange of the Year by Risk Magazine for the second time in three years.^[1].
2005	March 9, 2005: Became the first securities exchange to sell its shares in an initial public offering. May 24, 2005: Traded its 1 billionth contract. December 8, 2005: Completed its secondary public offering.
2006	January 20, 2006: Traded a record daily trading volume of 4,580,678 equity and index options contracts. March 24, 2006: Launches its alternative markets trading platform. May 16, 2006: Traded its 1.5 billionth contract. September 1, 2006: Adopted a holding company structure. September 8, 2006: Launched the ISE Stock Exchange, with its first product, MidPoint Match. December 8, 2006: ISE Stock Exchange rolled out its fully-displayed stock market, the first fully-electronic exchange to provide integrated access to non-displayed and displayed liquidity pools.
2007	February 27, 2007: Set a new record daily trading volume of 5,531,875 equity and index options. contracts. March 5, 2007: Announced partnership Toronto Stock Exchange to launch DEX, a new derivatives market in March 2009. March 9, 2007: Traded its 2 billionth options contract. April 17, 2007: Launched ISE FX Options, options based on rate movements in the global currency market. April 30, 2007: German exchange operator Deutsche Börse announced it will buy International Securities Exchange (ISE.N) for $2.8 billion, creating the No. 1 transatlantic derivatives marketplace.^[2]. December 20, 2007: Eurex completes acquisition of ISE. ISE will continue to be regulated by the SEC as a registered national securities exchange and will operate under the existing management team as an independent subsidiary of Eurex. ^[3].
2008	March 12, 2008: The International Securities Exchange said it plans to launch derivatives auctions based on the Rexx U.S. commercial property indices. ^[4]