CHICAGO, Dec. 15, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- optionsXpress Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq:OXPS) today reported key monthly performance metrics for November. Highlights for the month included:
- Retail daily average revenue trades (DARTs) of 32,600 – 7% higher than November 2009, 11% higher than October 2010
- Institutional daily average revenue trades (DARTs) of 13,400 – 2% higher than November 2009, flat with October 2010
- Net new customer accounts of 2,400. Ending customer accounts of 376,300 – 8% higher than November 2009, 1% higher than October 2010
- Ending client assets of $7.6 billion – 17% higher than November 2009, 1% higher than October 2010
- Ending margin balances of $196 million – 39% higher than November 2009, 1% lower than October 2010
"November marked the third consecutive month of improved retail engagement including the highest level of DARTs since the 'Flash Crash' in early May of this year," commented David Fisher, Chief Executive Officer of optionsXpress Holdings, Inc. "Retail DARTs in options, futures and equities all increased by double-digits from October and new account growth was 14% higher than a year ago."
The Company also provided additional information on its previously announced cash dividend of $4.50 per share on the Company's outstanding shares of common stock. The dividend is payable on December 27, 2010 to shareholders of record on December 13, 2010. Stockholders should be aware that due to the application of Nasdaq Rule 11140(b)(2) (applicable to dividend distributions greater than 25% of the market capitalization of the underlying stock), Nasdaq has set the ex-dividend date as December 28, 2010, the business day immediately following the payment date of December 27, 2010. All shares outstanding on December 13th will receive the special dividend, but an investor must be a holder of the stock on December 27, 2010 to receive the special dividend of $4.50.
About optionsXpress Holdings, Inc.
optionsXpress Holdings, Inc., a pioneer in equity options and futures trading, offers an innovative suite of online brokerage services for investor education, strategy evaluation and trade execution. optionsXpress Holdings subsidiaries include optionsXpress, Inc., a retail online brokerage specializing in options and futures, brokersXpress, LLC, an online trading and reporting platform for independent investment professionals, Open E Cry, LLC, an innovative futures broker offering direct access futures trading for high volume commodities and futures traders through its proprietary software platform, and Optionetics, Inc, a leading provider of investment education services, including live seminars, proprietary software analytics, online and offline educational products and individual coaching.
More information can be found in the Investor Relations section of optionsXpress' website at http://www.optionsxpress.com/investor.
The optionsXpress Holdings, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=6907
Safe Harbor
This press release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements relate to future events or our future financial performance and involve known and unknown risks. We urge you to carefully consider these risks in evaluating the information in this press release, including risks related to general economic conditions, regulatory developments, the competitive landscape, the volume of securities trading generally or by our customers specifically and other risks described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "intends," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," "continue" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions. Actual events or results may differ materially. The forward-looking statements made in this press release relate only to events as of the date of this release. We undertake no ongoing obligation to update these statements.