On April 26, 1973, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) opened and traded the first standardized, exchange-listed equity option. Although the CBOE listed only call options on 16 underlying stocks, a revolutionary new financial instrument had been created. The CBOE traded just over 1 million option contracts during the first year.

To help insure the stability and integrity of the options market, the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) was also started in 1973. Composed of more than 135 Clearing Members, the OCC is the issuer and registered clearing facility for all exchange-listed securities options in the U.S.

During the next few years, options became popular and other securities exchanges began entering the business. The American Stock Exchange and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange started trading options in 1975, and the Pacific Stock Exchange introduced option trading in 1976. In 1977, put options became exchange listed and expanded the benefits of options. On March 11, 1983, the CBOE transformed options trading when it introduced index options in the form of the S&P 100 Index. The New York Stock exchange joined the others and introduced option trading in June 1985. (Subsequently the New York Stock exchange sold its options business to the Chicago Board Options Exchange in 1996.) In May 2000, the International Securities Exchange started trading options as the nation's first entirely electronic options market. The Boston Options Exchange started trading on February 6, 2004 with plans to scale up to 1,000 classes by the end of 2006.

In response to the heavy interest in options, the Options Industry Council (OIC) was founded in 1992 by the nation's options exchanges. A non-profit organization, the OIC works to educate investors on the risks and rewards of options trading. Investors have access to free educational videos, software, brochures, and evening seminars through the organization.

As testimony to the popularity of options trading, more than 3.6 billion contracts were traded in 2009. Record-setting volume has occurred in the past four consecutive years and nine of the past 10 years.

Additional options information can be requested from the following sources: