Trading Statistics September 2009

 Tanker and Dry Bulk Derivatives

Tanker trade value rose 13 % from August 2009, to 233 million USD, as tanker trading volume climbed 7 % month-on-month, to 13 733 lots. Despite the fact that the Dry Bulk index has been falling through September, the trading volume has increased 28 %, pushing trade value up 7 %. Dry bulk freight rates can be illustrated by the Baltic Exchange Dry Index for spot rates, which was 2 421 at the end of August and 2 220 in the end of September 2009.

Freight Open Interest

At the end of the reporting month, open interest for freight options continued to increase, showing a 58 % year-on-year rise, to 46 533 lots. Open interest for dry bulk was 22 529 lots and for tanker futures it was 30 869 lots, up 7 %. The open interest is the total number of lots which remain to be liquidated by either close-out trades or delivery at NOS Clearing. NOS Clearing counts only long positions. Other clearing houses often count both long and short positions in their open interest figures.