15 years of trading across Europe: The STOXX Europe 600 story

On 28 July 2010, Eurex introduced Futures and Options on the STOXX® Europe 600 Index. Fifteen years later, they are among the most actively traded broad-based products worldwide, offering institutional investors, corporates and hedge funds a vital tool for hedging, speculating, and adjusting exposures to the European economy across a wide ecosystem of products.  The STOXX® Europe 600 Index Futures and Options were initially introduced to provide access to a broad, diversified benchmark reflecting the performance of a broad range of European companies.  The index was first developed by STOXX® in 1998. It includes 600 large, mid, and small-cap securities across 17 countries and 11 industries throughout Europe. Sahand Taghizadeh“The STOXX Europe 600 index, established 27 years ago, has gone from strength to strength, thanks to its liquid and transparent profile. And the diversified coverage of the region lends itself well to the creation of varied investment strategies.” “We celebrate with Eurex 15 years of success for the derivatives tied to the index and look forward to many more innovation milestones.”Sahand Taghizadeh, Head of Investable STOXX BenchmarksSince the initial launch of the STOXX® Europe 600 Index Futures and Options, Eurex has introduced several variations, including dividend products as well as ESG-X Futures and Options. In 2020, Eurex further expanded the offering, completing a suite of 23 sector futures based on the updated ICB Supersector classification.  These contracts offer market participants ways to express views on specific sectors within Europe, such as Financials, Technology, Energy, and Health Care. Most recently, Eurex added weekly options on the index, increasing flexibility for short-term trading and hedging strategies and expanding the index ecosystem. Milestones and Market Growth Over the past 15 years, the segment has experienced significant growth. Notional trading volumes have steadily climbed, with 2024 marking a peak of over EUR 616 billion in futures and EUR 125 billion in options. Open Interest in options recently surpassed 1 million contracts, and average daily volumes continue to rise. The STOXX® Europe 600 Index Futures and Options have proven to be vital tools for investors during the major events since their launch, including the 2012 Eurozone debt crisis, the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Charles Lacarrière"STOXX Europe 600 options offer an excellent opportunity for hedging a European equity portfolio for two key reasons: thanks to its diversification, the index closely replicates a typical book. In addition, its low volatility makes options much cheaper to buy.""Alternatively, STOXX Europe 600 options offer good opportunities for putting overwriting strategies: despite lower implied volatility, the index tends to be much less volatile than EURO STOXX 50 during periods of market stress."                                                               Charles Lacarrière, Portfolio Manager, Melanion Capital SASOver time, new participants have entered the market, diversified the investor base and increased product liquidity. Over the past 18 months, there has also been significant interest in STOXX® Europe 600 Options from global investors seeking to diversify their portfolios.  Benefits of trading the STOXX® Europe 600The STOXX® Europe 600 Index Futures and Options are attractive to investors as they offer several benefits. As the index represents a broad set of underlying constituents, it helps to reduce concentration risk and provides diversification to investors.  The contracts are highly liquid, offering tight spreads even during periods of market volatility. Meanwhile, the extensive suite of products gives investors multiple ways to gain exposure across various time frames and specific components of the index, supporting a wide range of tactical strategies. Sophie Granchi"Since 2024, STOXX Europe 600 has seen a significant uptick in put option volume, suggesting increased demand for downside protection. This elevated activity has created more liquidity on screen, both on futures and options. It also pushed more dealers to get involved in trading STOXX Europe 600 derivatives."Sophie Granchi, Vice President, Eurex Sales EMEAThe index also features the so-called "GRANOLAS" (GlaxoSmithKline, Roche, ASML, Nestlé, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, L'Oréal, LVMH, AstraZeneca, SAP, and Sanofi), which are frequently viewed as Europe’s counterpart to the U.S.'s "Magnificent 7". The GRANOLAS offer regional diversification, as they include firms listed in the Nordics, the U.K., Switzerland, and EU countries.  STOXX® Europe 600 Futures and Options have become a widely accepted reference point for European equity performance. They are used worldwide by investors aiming to hedge exposure or rebalance multi-regional portfolios. The launch of sector and dividend futures and options, total return futures and ESG-related contracts has created a broad investment ecosystem in the STOXX® Europe 600.  In addition, Eurex has introduced contracts on STOXX® Europe Large 200, STOXX® Europe Mid 200, and STOXX® Europe Small 200, each including 200 small-, medium-, and large-cap firms within the index. Today, Eurex offers a comprehensive range of STOXX® Europe 600 products for trading. This allows institutions to customize strategies and access a variety of exposures within the STOXX® Europe 600 suite, while also taking advantage of cross-margining with other related products traded on Eurex.  Building on growth Looking ahead, Eurex aims to continue expanding the STOXX® Europe 600 ecosystem and strengthen its position as a diversified, investable and tradable benchmark for global investors.  Growth is expected to come from the index’s continued adoption by institutional investors in Europe as well as increasing interest from investors in the U.S. and Asia.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Deutsche Boerse AG Unsponsored American Deposit Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Deutsche Boerse AG Unsponsored American Deposit