Nasdaq Options Market debuts, becomes OCC member

CHICAGO, March 31 (Reuters) - Nasdaq OMX Group, Inc's all-electronic Nasdaq Options Market has become a member of the Options Clearing Corp., the two groups said on Monday.

The OCC clears and guarantees the trades executed on all U.S. options exchanges.

Nasdaq OMX (NDAQ.O: Quote, Profile, Research), one of the world's largest exchanges, received approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this month for trading rules associated with the new platform that went live on Monday to become the seventh U.S. options market.

Nasdaq said its option platform will provide a level playing field to all participants and that it looks forward to growing its price/time priority market structure based on the best price, using a first-come, first-served basis.

The platform also provides a routing service to orders when trading is not possible on the Nasdaq Options Market.

The launch complements Nasdaq's $652 million deal to buy the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, the third-largest U.S. options market, last November. Nasdaq OMX expects to close in the second quarter.

Nasdaq's entry also comes at a time of unprecedented growth in the industry. More investors have turned to options, giving them the right to sell or buy an underlying security at a given price and time, as a risk management tool as well as a component of refined strategies.

U.S. options turnover jumped 41 percent to a record 2.8 billion contracts in 2007 from a year earlier, according to the OCC. (Reporting by Doris Frankel; Editing by Dan Grebler)