Intercontinental Exchange is weighing a move into volatility indices and daily options with index provider FTSE Russell in what would be the US group’s first foray into volatility products.

Speaking at an event hosted by FTSE Russell and ICE on Thursday to mark the 40^th anniversary of the launch of the ICE-traded FTSE 100 future, Trabue Bland, the senior vice president of futures exchanges at ICE, said the US group is looking at further innovation with the LSE Group-owned index provider.

Bland said: “We are really excited about working on new products with FTSE including volatility indexes, daily options and ESG futures.”

Volatility indexes would likely lead to futures and options contracts based on those indices which would mark ICE’s first foray into volatility products, a market dominated in the US by Cboe Global Markets with its VIX derivatives.

Daily options, also known as single-day-to-expiry (0DTE) options, have also proved popular in recent years, particularly with retail traders, and now account for almost half of the daily trading on US options venues such as Cboe.

Also speaking at the event, Jeff Sprecher, the chairman and chief executive of ICE, said about the FTSE 100 futures contract: “From when this contract debuted on an open outcry exchange to what it is today is amazing. The trend of indexation and going electronic have overlayed our partnership with FTSE and taken this contract to new heights.”

The ICE FTSE 100 futures contract is ICE Futures Europe’s most popular equity derivative which traded 31.6 million lots in 2023, according to data from ICE.

The US group said its ICE Midland WTI crude oil futures hit on Monday 100,000 lots traded in one day for the first time while average daily volume in the US crude contract has been 29,000 contracts this month compared to 16,700 in April.

The Atlanta-based group reported in early May record quarterly earnings of $2.3 billion (£1.8bn), up 21% on the first quarter last year, driven largely by its buoyant energy markets.