Sorry in advance if my question is a very basic one, but how can I find out what are the most liquid index options which are traded on different option exchanges based on volume and open interest, both in the US and in other parts of the world (such as Europe and Asia)? Is there any website that concentrates this information? thanks
In the US, SPY has the most volume and the tightest spreads. SPX also has a lot of volume, but the electronic markets are very wide.
really? not the DAX, the SPX or other indexes? where can I see some information about volumes? thanks
eurostoxx50 and QQQ are pretty liquid too. for the rest trust the above people or use www.google.com ...
in general, the highest vol futures cars have the most liquid options. just use GOOG like the previous poster said and search for them.
I already searched in google but I didn't find an updated website that concentrates the volume data regarding the many index options that are traded throughout the world and I thought you may know about such site. It is also possible of course to dig into the exchanges sites and try to find the volume data for each product, but if someone already did it I prefer to use it In addition, in order to make an accurate comparison it is not enough just to count the volume but also to take into account the exchange rate and the multiplier. For example, the KOSPI may seem very liquid at first glance with its over 3 billion annual volume comparing to the 150+ million for the S&P 500 but when you take into account that the KOSPI is traded in KRW (1 KRW is 0.000949 dollars) and that the multiplier of the KOSPI is 100,000 (when the multiplier of the S&P 500 is 100) then it seems that just comparing the number of contracts is not enough, and that if you trade the KOSPI you must trade much larger amount of contracts in order to trade the same amount in dollar terms comparing to 1 S&P contract. However, most of the data that I found on the interent on this subject is either dated or does not take into account the adjustments that I mentioned, so again if someone know of a good source of information please post here.
I don't get why all the above is so important: you want tight spreads, you'll get them in all the above products mentioned, they are all amongst the most liquid in the world. (Didn't mention vix options too, but don't see you trading those as a beginner.) Can't see the need to make an exact listing: it's not like your account is going to move the market in something like qqq, spy or eurostoxx50. You'd need to be a hedge fund to do anything like that. In other words: you can easily trade the KOSPI. Your main question is going to be: what edge/added value do you have trading these things ... not liquidity or spreads if you go with one of the big indexes. I am not trying to be rude ... but that's how it is. Hope it helps.