The Futures Industry Association reports that derivatives trading rose 28% in 2007.

The Washington, DC-based trade group, released its annual report which indicates that more than 15 billion futures and options contracts changed hands during 2007, up almost a third from the previous year.

The last time that volume grew this rapidly was in 2003, when volume
jumped 30% from 6.2 billion to 8.1 billion. Worldwide volume rose 19% in 2006, 12% in 2005, and 9% in 2004.

North America accounted for the largest share of the global volume
total, with total volume reaching 6.14 billion contracts traded in 2007, up 33% on the previous year. The Asia-Pacific region came in second with 4.19 billion contracts traded in 2007, up 19% on the previous year, it reported.

Single-stock derivatives were the fastest growing sector of the global market for exchange-traded derivatives, with volume up 42% to 4.09 billion contracts. Equity index futures and options was the largest sector, with volume up 26% to 5.62 billion contracts.

Mergers and acquisitions among derivatives exchanges impacted the FIA’s rankings of the world’s leading derivatives exchanges. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade, which merged during 2007, pulled ahead of the Korea Exchange as the world’s largest derivatives exchange, with combined volume of 2.8 billion contracts.
Also, IntercontinentalExchange moved up to number 16 in the ranking following its consolidation of the New York Board of Trade and the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange.