Trading & Options · Profile from Trading and Options Research Companion
Cboe Global Markets
The Chicago exchange group that created the US listed options market on 26 Apr 1973 and has since designed most of the contracts that options and volatility traders use as their basic tools: index options on the S&P 100 and S&P 500 (1983), the VIX (announced 19 Jan 1993) and its futures (26 Mar 2004) and options (24 Feb 2006), the BXM and PUT strategy benchmarks (2002, 2007), weekly options (2005) and, by May 2022, an SPX expiry on every trading day. In 2025 its four US options exchanges traded a record 4.6bn contracts (ADV 18.4m), SPX averaged 3.9m contracts a day, and 59% of SPX volume was in options expiring the same day (Cboe, 6 Jan 2026; Shared facts). For a trading book Cboe is the venue's view of the edge equation: an exchange does not trade against its customers, but its product design decides which edges exist, which risks are easy to take, and where the crowd goes — including into products such as inverse-VIX notes that blew up on 5 Feb 2018. The business story (revenue, acquisitions, CEOs) is in the Finance KB profile, linked below; this profile takes only the trading angle.
At a glance
- Founded
- Chicago Board Options Exchange, opened 26 Apr 1973 by members of the Chicago Board of Trade (SEC approval Oct 1971; incorporated Feb 1972 — Shared facts); renamed Cboe Global Markets in 2017 after buying Bats
- Headquarters
- Chicago, Illinois
- Type / ownership
- Exchange group; member-owned until it demutualised and listed in June 2010 (Shared facts; Finance KB); public company since
- Venues (2026)
- Four US options exchanges (Cboe Options "C1", C2, BZX Options, EDGX Options); Cboe Futures Exchange (CFE); four US equity exchanges; Cboe Europe; Cboe FX (Finance KB)
- Proprietary products
- SPX (and SPXW weeklys/dailies), XSP (Mini-SPX, one-tenth size), VIX options and futures, RUT options; the Cboe strategy benchmark indices (BXM, PUT and others) and volatility indices (VIX, VXN, VVIX, DSPX and others)
- Scale (dated)
- 2025: options ADV 18.4m (4.6bn contracts); index options ADV 4.9m; SPX ADV 3.9m; SPX 0DTE ADV 2.3m (59% of SPX volume); VIX options ADV 862,000; XSP ADV 115,000; overnight (GTH) ADV 115,000 — all yearly records (Cboe release, 6 Jan 2026). 0DTE share of SPX volume a record 66.2% in Jul 2026 (Shared facts)
- Financials (business view)
- 2025 net revenue ~$2.4bn (+17%, record); Q3 2026 net revenue $712.2m (Finance KB, from company releases)
- Regulators
- SEC (the options exchanges are self-regulatory organisations); CFTC (CFE and VIX futures); clearing through the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC), which Cboe co-owns with other exchanges
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Listed calls (1973); puts and the SEC options moratorium (1977–80); index options SPX and OEX (1983); the VIX, its futures and options (1993–2006); BXM and PUT benchmarks (2002–07); weeklys to daily SPX expirations (2005–22); the Bats acquisition and technology migration (2017–19); Volmageddon and the VIX settlement allegations (2018, failure); global trading hours toward 24x5 (2015–26)
9 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1973
Listed Call Options Open
Founding / new market
1977
Puts and the SEC Options Moratorium
New product (listed puts) / regulatory pause on expansion
1983
Index Options SPX and OEX
New product (cash-settled index options)
1993
VIX Futures and Options
New product and market (a volatility index, then tradable futures and options on it)
2002
BXM and PUT Strategy Benchmarks
Index and data product (rule-based strategy benchmarks)
2005
Weeklys to Daily SPX Expirations
Product expansion / market-structure bet (0DTE options)
2017
Bats Acquisition and Technology Migration
Acquisition / technology and infrastructure bet
2018
Volmageddon and VIX Settlement Allegations
Product-ecosystem failure / regulatory and legal challenge (failure)
2021
Global Trading Hours Toward 24x5
Market-structure change (extended and overnight trading sessions)