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Published on April 16, 2008

"We hope the discount will support and offer an incentive for members in enlarging their investor base and launching educational options-trading activities for their customers," managing director Kesara Manchusree said last week.

Discounts will start at 10 per cent for brokerages generating 10,000-20,000 contracts in a month, go up to 15 per cent for 20,001-40,000 contracts and reach 20 per cent for more than 40,000.

A minimum of 1,000 Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) 50 Index Options contracts are required, and transactions made by market makers through these brokerages are not included in the campaign running from next month to October.

The TFEX charges its 25 broker members Bt50 and Bt10 per transaction for its two products: SET 50 Index futures and SET 50 Index options.

By TFEX market share, Trinity Polaris Futures leads with 13.9 per cent, followed by KGI Securities (Thailand) with 11.5 per cent, Kim Eng Securities (Thailand) with 10.9 per cent and Phillip Securities with 10.8 per cent.

In the first quarter, daily average trading volume was 7,627 contracts worth Bt4.23 billion.

Of the contracts, 7,313 worth Bt4.22 billion were for SET 50 Index futures, and 314 valued at Bt1.59 billion were for SET 50 Index options.

First-quarter results were up 206 per cent from a daily average of 2,391 contracts in last year's first quarter and 40.12 per cent for the average of 5,219 contracts for all of last year.

Retail investors accounted for 55 per cent of first-quarter volume, institutional investors 23 per cent and foreign investors the rest.

The first quarter ended with 10,831 trading accounts, up 14 per cent from 9,531 accounts at the close of last year.

TFEX, in collaboration with the Options Industry Council, will hold an options-trading workshop next month.