The Taiwan Futures Exchange (TAIFEX) just announced that it has successfully received relief from the United States (US) Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ) with regard to its Index, Equity and ETF Options on its flagship TAIEX Options (TXO), and newly listed ETF options contracts. TXO is the fifth most traded equity index option contract globally, and TAIFEX said that the contact had 784,000 in daily average volume during 2015.
The relief provides the ability for the products to be marketed through eligible registered broker-dealers and institutions in the US, aimed at enhancing the exchange's global offering, including foreign participation in its own futures market.
The update from the exchange said that the news will help it continue its 2015 momentum with expansion into US markets. Last July the exchange launched an incentive program for newly launched RMB FX Futures contracts, including USD/CNT and USD/CNH, and said that trading volumes and open interest had grown steadily for both products with 8,428 contracts traded daily as of last month.
TAIFEX re-launched that incentive program for its brokers starting this month and valid through the end of June, where monetary rewards will be given to firms that reach a certain number of active accounts on the two RMB FX Futures contracts. The company sent out a bulletin with trading volumes, showing a year-over-year increase of 35% to 13,258,237 contracts in February 2016 and higher from 9,816,154 contracts the same month a year ago, across all of the exchanges products.
