While the outstanding amount of CDS has been shrinking, there is one pocket of the derivatives world that appears is growing pretty substantially – options on CDS indices. How much have these CDS index swaptions grown, you ask?

From a 2011 FT Alphaville post:

…. Citigroup revealed in “a brief CDX options primer” that the market for these financial instruments had surpassed an average $5bn in trading volume per week. And that’s just for options based on Markit’s CDX index — not even those on other credit indices …

Fast forward almost three years, and the latest estimate for weekly volume is, erm, somewhat higher.

… An average $60bn of CDS index options currently exchange hands per week … according to estimates from Citigroup based on data from the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC)….

CDS options market multiplies alongside questions (2011)
‘Swaptions’ trade leaps over regulatory hurdles (2014)