Clients - Chicago Board Options Exchange

CBOE and IFS announce new market data service

CHICAGO, February 15 – The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) announced today that it has entered into an agreement with London-based Intelligent Financial Systems Ltd. (IFS) to provide historical market data, beginning in April 2006. CBOE has partnered with IFS Ltd., the world’s leading provider of historical market data systems, to deliver the most comprehensive, easily accessible market data system in the industry. The new system will offer a convenient web-based solution to satisfy the many requests from customers, academics and research firms for market data that CBOE regularly receives.

Information available through the service will include historical data, initially back to 1995, on all 1,895 stock, index and ETF options traded at CBOE, as well as data from other U.S. options exchanges. Data will include all-day bid and ask prices, last sale prices, volume, and daily high-low prices.

“As the definitive source for options trading information, CBOE is committed to delivering the full spectrum of historical market data in a cost-efficient and timely manner,” said CBOE Chairman and CEO William Brodsky. “Historical market data is often used for backcasting and certain modeling programs, and the partnership with IFS will greatly expand our ability to provide data on an unparalleled list of products, eventually going all the way back to 1973 when CBOE created the listed options market.”

The web-based application will be easily accessed though the CBOE website, www.cboe.com, and will be available to all customers. The system will be cost-effective for individual requests as well as large-batch jobs, and will be fully customizable, allowing the user to select the market data criteria, the time frame and the depth of information to be provided. Customers can request standardized monthly reports on a subscription basis, or customized reports tailored to a particular trading strategy or other criteria, on a scaled-fee basis.

Intelligent Financial Systems Ltd. is a leading quantitative financial software company specializing in the creation of value-added market data solutions, particularly for large data sets. IFS has designed, developed and hosted a wide range of historical and real-time market data applications and websites for several of the largest exchanges and financial information providers worldwide. CBOE signed a partnership agreement with IFS in December 2005. For more information on IFS visit the IFS website at: www.if5.com.

CBOE, the world’s largest options marketplace and the creator of listed options, is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). For additional information about the CBOE and its products, visit the CBOE website at: www.cboe.com.