CBOE to extend trading hours of VIX and SPX to almost 24 hours in push for Euro and Asian markets
CBOE Global Markets Inc, one of the largest market operators, has announced that it plans to extend the global trading hours for S&P Index (SPX) options and Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) from November 21, 2021, to almost 24 hours, subject to regulatory approvals.
The company says that this extension is since the popularity of these instruments has been growing globally over the years and hence the company finds a need to extend the trading hours to cater to the growing market. The existing users would also be able to execute trades round the clock which will also help to boost the trading volumes.
“The launch of our extended GTH session comes at an exciting time as Cboe continues to grow as a global markets operator and enter new markets, asset classes, and regions around the world,” said Arianne Criqui, Senior Vice President, Head of Derivatives and Global Client Services at Cboe Global Markets. “The extended GTH session is designed to be aligned to further expand investor access to our markets and meet global customer demand for SPX and VIX options to help hedge positions and potentially capitalize on changes in volatility well before and after regular U.S. trading hours.”
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. The planned expanded GTH session would begin at 8:15 p.m. ET and run until 9:15 a.m. ET the following morning. The regular trading hours would also be extended by 30 mins from September 27, 2021 subject to regulatory approvals to give more time for the options to be open alongside their related futures products. This would help in market stability.
The extension of these trading hours is in line with the launch of Cboe Europe Derivatives and its planned acquisition of Chi-X Asia Pacific which would give it coverage of the European and the Asian market hours and this extension would help to complement these developments. These two regions are expected to bring in more users and trading volume and the extension would serve to be more attractive for these markets as these two instruments have been the most traded instruments across the world for many years. While VIX is used to hedge portfolio risk, SPX normally provides exposure to the equity indices in the US for those investors who are within and outside the US as well.
