Trading interest in futures and options markets on platforms operated by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) reached an all-time high this week, tඣhe exchange reportꦡed.

澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Open interest, or the amount of outstanding investment contracts, hit 86 million Wednesday, ICE said, surpassing the record of 85.8 million previously established June 10, 2021.

The record represents surging interest in ICE's commodity and energy contracts, in which open interest has risen 21% year-to-date compared with a year ago.

✱The increased interest has coincided with a somewhat volati♊le year for global energy markets.

澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Brent crude, the global oil market benchmark, traded in the high $80-per-barrel range in January but fell to the low-$70 range amid March's global banking turmoil. A month later, it rebounded to the high $80s, slumped again to the low $70s by late June, then surged to the mid-$90s by late September.

At about 2:30 p.m. ET Friday, Brent futures contracts for January delivery traded at about $76.50 per barrel.

Trabue Bland, ICE's senior vice president of futures markets, said the record reflects an increasingly complex and varied global 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:commodity market, leading customers to "seek out liquidity and derivative products that allow for more precise hedging across 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:asset classes."

Traders use commodity futures and options to hedge the supply and demand needs—and related costs—of phy꧂sical commodity sales and purchases. Speculators wit🧸h no interest in owning physical commodities provide additional market liquidity.

Shares of ICE fell slightly⭕ in intraday trading Friday 🦩but have gained nearly 20% so far this year.