Eurex participants can now trade seven further German options on MDAX and TecDAX equities.

Eurex participants can now trade seven further German options on MDAX and TecDAX equities. In addition to the options on the 30 DAX stocks, market participants will be able to trade 17 German segment options on MDAX equities and eight on TecDAX equities. Eurex options now cover more than 50 per cent of the freely tradable market capitalisation of the MDAX and the TecDAX.

The new derivatives include options on Conergy, GEA Group, K+S, Premiere, Q-Cells, Stada Arzneimittel and United Internet. As of June 1, the new options will be included in the German advanced market-making package and in permanent market-making, giving market makers an incentive to quote these options on a permanent basis.

The contract specifications are based on the existing German equity options. Each contract comprises 100 shares, and has a maximum maturity of 24 months.

By introducing the equity options, Eurex says, it is continuing to focus on increasing demand among participants for derivatives on attractive mid-caps from the MDAX and TecDAX segment.

The increase in demand is fuelled notably by ETF issuers, hedge funds, traditional investment funds and issuers of warrants and certificates on German small caps. In addition, the options on the GEA Group, K+S, Q-Cells and Stada Arzneimittel complement the single stock futures that are already available on these stocks.

The German segment was the strongest equity option segment in 2006, with more than 180 million contracts traded, representing year-on-year growth of 11 percent. This expansion has continued in 2007, with a total of 78 million contracts traded in the first four months of the year, and a year-on-year increase of 30 per cent. An average of 940,000 contracts are currently traded daily in the German segment.