The Chicago Board Options Exchange has said trading during December rose 1% as the exchange recorded its busiest year. The strong end to 2008 was recorded despite the Options Clearing Corporation revealing the US options market declined 7% during the month amid a transition away from individual equity options to index-based option contracts.

Trading during December totalled 72.81m contracts as the CBOE recorded 1.19bn contracts during the year. The annual results easily surpassed the 944.47m contracts exchanged during 2007.

One market source said the increase in December trading, achieved in a declining US options market, was born from a changing US options landscape. The source said there has been a shift away from individual equity options to mature equity index options.