• Expansion of current GTH session planned for fourth quarter 2021, subject to regulatory review
• Will provide global investors ability to trade Cboe’s flagship U.S. index options during local trading day and around the clock
• Builds on growing customer demand, combined ADV for SPX and VIX options during current GTH session increased 76 percent in 2020 over the prior year

Cboe Global Markets, a market operator and global trading solutions provider, announced plans to extend the global trading hours session (GTH) for its S&P 500 Index options (SPX) and Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) options to nearly 24 hours each business day on Cboe Options Exchange in the fourth quarter of 2021, subject to regulatory review.

Cboe’s move to offer a nearly 24 hours-a-day, five days-a-week (24×5) trading model aims to provide global market participants with expanded access to trade Cboe’s exclusively listed U.S. index options products based on the S&P 500 Index (SPX), the global benchmark of large-cap U.S. equities, and the Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), recognized as the world’s premier gauge of U.S. equity market volatility. The lengthened global trading hours are designed to help meet growing investor demand for the ability to manage risk more efficiently, react to global macroeconomic events as they are happening and adjust SPX and VIX options positions around the clock.

Cboe plans to extend global trading hours for VIX and SPX options to nearly 24 hours-a-day. Learn more at https://t.co/w0KXNW0FoK. #DefiningMarkets pic.twitter.com/kiurUsHNCs

— Cboe (@CBOE) April 8, 2021

“The S&P 500 and VIX Indices are widely tracked globally, with Cboe’s SPX and VIX options used by investors both domestically and internationally looking to trade, hedge or gain exposure to the broad U.S. market and global equity volatility,” said Arianne Criqui, Senior Vice President, Head of Derivatives and Global Client Services at Cboe Global Markets. “As financial markets around the world become more interconnected, it is crucial that market participants have the ability to trade products that meet their investing objectives when and how they need, no matter the time of day. Cboe continues to focus on broadening its geographic reach and extending access to its unique product set to investors around the globe to meet this demand.”

Cboe’s expansion of its GTH session is expected to complement its planned entry into the Asia Pacific markets, where it sees opportunity to further broaden its distribution network and offer a wide range of its core product offerings, including its proprietary products and global market data service, to customers in the region. On March 24, Cboe announced its plans to acquire Chi-X Asia Pacific Holdings, Ltd., operator of Chi-X Australia and Chi-X Japan.

SPX and VIX options are currently available in a GTH session that runs from 3:00 a.m. ET to 9:15 a.m. ET. In 2020, the combined average daily volume (ADV) for SPX and VIX options during the current GTH session increased 76 percent over 2019. VIX futures are currently available in nearly 24×5 trading. In 2020, over 15 percent of total VIX futures volume occurred in GTH, up from 13 percent in 2019.

The planned expanded GTH session would commence at 8:15 p.m. ET and run until 9:15 a.m. ET the following morning. Regular trading hours (RTH) then run from the U.S. market open at 9:30 a.m. ET until the market close at 4:15 p.m. ET. The RTH session will also be followed by a new curb session – an extra half hour session for electronic trading beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET– which will be added Monday through Friday in the third quarter of 2021. For each Monday business day, trading in GTH would begin Sunday evening.

The extended GTH session will not impact operations of regular trading hours on the Cboe Options Exchange trading floor in Chicago. For additional information on the extended global trading hours for SPX and VIX options, please click here.

Source: Cboe