Intercontinental Exchange, Inc., a leading global provider of technology and data, announced that ICE’s interest rate derivatives markets hit record open interest (OI) of 42.3 million contracts on February 11, 2026, up 45% year-over-year (y/y), as ICE’s total OI across its futures and options markets hit a record 116.5 million.
ICE SONIA futures and options – the benchmark for managing U.K. interest rate risk – hit record OI of 15.4 million on February 11, 2026, including a record 11.7 million SONIA options, with OI up 63% and 70% respectively. In January 2025, a record 8.9 million SONIA options traded during the month, with record average daily volume of 426,000 contracts.
Meanwhile, ICE’s MPC Dated SONIA futures, a cash settled future based on the interest rate accrued over a Bank of England Monetary Policy Meeting period, is seeing increased use by market participants who want to more precisely trade around central bank meeting dates, utilizing the margin offsets available when trading and clearing alongside ICE SONIA. On January 29, 2026, OI in MPC Dated SONIA futures surpassed 51,000 contracts for the first time.
Elsewhere, OI across Gilts, the benchmark for the U.K. government bond yield curve, is up 21% at 1.2 million contracts.
“As the only global exchange to offer a multi-currency rates portfolio, customers are benefiting from the diversity and deep liquidity of ICE’s benchmark U.K. and EU rates markets as they respond to shifting monetary policy paths and cross-market signals,” said Caterina Caramaschi, VP of Financial Derivatives at ICE. “The record open interest reflects the value customers find in using a single platform to align exposure across assets.”
In addition to U.K. rates, ICE is home to Euribor, the benchmark for managing short term euro-related interest rate risk, with OI of 22.7 million across futures and options, up 33% y/y; as well as €STR, which reflects the wholesale euro unsecured overnight borrowing costs of banks located in the euro area, with futures OI of 2.2 million, up over 100% y/y; and SARON, the Swiss benchmark, with OI up 16% y/y.
Source: ICE
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