Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (NYSE:ICE) today announced record open interest (OI) in the global gas futures and options markets, as well as record trading activity in global gas options.
As of March 22, 2024, ICE global gas futures and options hit a record OI of 40.2 million contracts, up 29% year-over-year (YoY). In North America, OI on ICE Henry Hub futures and options has grown 33% year-over-year. These markets offer market participants the most liquid contracts to hedge their long-term exposure to US natural gas prices.
Meanwhile, ICE’s US natural gas markets set an OI record with more than 11 million futures and options on April 1, 2024. ICE’s US natural gas markets span 70 nodes across North America allowing customers to they manage regional supply and demand dynamics.
TTF, the global benchmark for natural gas, hit a record OI of 4.3 million in futures and options on March 25, 2024, up 90% year-on-year. ICE’s TTF markets finished 2023 with record OI, record volume and record participation, and in Q1 2024 continued to record further volume and average daily volume (ADV).
“For over 20 years, ICE has been building a global energy network that includes the broadest range of liquid benchmarks to support natural gas markets worldwide,” said Trabue Bland, SVP, Futures Markets at ICE. “Our network provides our customers with the liquidity, transparency and margin hedges they need to manage their price risk and respond to the changing supply and demand dynamics that affect natural gas throughout the year.”
In addition, ICE’s global natural gas options market saw record trading volume in Q1 2024, nearly 38 million contracts, surpassing the previous record set in Q1 2012. Trading volume in North American natural gas options of ICE hit a record 30.6 million contracts during the quarter , as Henry Hub options also recorded record volume of 30.4 million contracts, surpassing the last record set in Q1 2012. TTF options continue to perform strongly, posting record volume and record ADV in Q1 2024 and as of March 25, 2024, hit record OI of 2.3 million contracts, up 122% YoY.
ICE hosts the widest range of natural gas benchmarks, including the global TTF benchmark, the US Henry Hub benchmark, the Canadian AECO benchmark, the UK NBP benchmark and the ICE JKM LNG (Platts) benchmark for natural gas for Northeast Asia. ICE’s global natural gas portfolio is a part of its global energy markets, which are the most liquid in the world for trading energy derivatives.