• Cboe to launch pre- and post-market trading sessions for select equity options, beginning July 13, 2026
• Eligible equity options must meet minimum options volume and underlying equity market cap and liquidity thresholds
• Initiative builds on Cboe’s efforts to expand investor access to U.S. markets

Cboe Global Markets, Inc., a leading global markets operator and pioneer in equity and index derivatives, announced the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved its filing to begin offering extended trading hours for select multi-listed equity options. Cboe Options Exchange (C1) plans to begin offering the extended trading hours on July 13, 2026, subject to SEC approval of a related rule filing.

The new multi-listed extended trading hours will include a pre-market session from 7:30 a.m. ET to 9:25 a.m. ET and a post-market session from 4:00 p.m. ET to 4:15 p.m. ET, Monday to Friday, covering some of the most actively traded and liquid symbols. Based on the proposed criteria, Cboe anticipates approximately 20 names — including all the Magnificent 7 stocks such as Nvidia, Tesla, and Apple, as well as other popular single-stock names like Palantir, Broadcom and AMD — to be available for trading at launch.

“The SEC approval marks an important milestone for the U.S. options industry, as Cboe continues to take the lead in expanding market access to meet growing demand from investors globally,” said Meaghan Dugan, Head of U.S. Derivatives at Cboe. “By launching first with a select group of single-name options, we are deliberately taking a measured approach to help ensure market safeguards and investor protections remain in place. As the industry moves toward near-24×5 trading in equities, this development will also help better align options trading – especially in the most high-demand names – with their underlying securities, enabling investors to manage risk and seize opportunities more effectively in today’s fast-moving markets.”

This is the latest effort by Cboe to meet demand for U.S. markets by expanding trading hours to broaden market access for international investors. Cboe currently offers near 24×5 trading in its Global Trading Hours (GTH) (8:15 p.m. ET to 9:25 a.m. ET) and Curb Trading Hours (4:15 p.m. ET to 5:00 p.m. ET) for several of its proprietary index options, including S&P 500 (SPX) Index options, Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) options, Mini S&P 500 (XSP) Index options and Russell 2000 (RUT) Index options. GTH and Curb volumes reached record levels in the first quarter of 2026, up 32% compared to the first quarter of 2025, driven in part by demand from customers in the Asia-Pacific region.

In its U.S. equities business, Cboe currently offers trading from 4 a.m. ET to 8 p.m. ET on two of its four exchanges. Cboe also plans to launch 23×5 U.S. equities trading on its Cboe EDGX Equities Exchange (EDGX) in December, pending regulatory approval and industry readiness.

The ability to trade single-stock options outside of the regular U.S. session may allow investors to better manage their options positions around market-moving events, such as pre- or post-market company announcements or macro-economic data releases that are historically released during the new windows. The post-market trading session will also provide investors with a 15-minute post-close window to manage positions in response to after-market events, potentially helping to reduce contra-exercise risk.

To be eligible for the pre- and post-market sessions, equity options must for the preceding six months have an average daily volume of 150,000 contracts or higher, an underlying equity market capitalization of $50 billion or higher, and an underlying equity average daily trading volume of 10 million shares or higher. Cboe expects to update the multi-listed equity options class list semi-annually, once based on data from July 1 through December 31, and once on data from January 1 through June 30.

Source: Cboe