Cboe wins SEC approval for extended options market hours
Cboe received SEC approval to trade select single-stock options before and after the regular session, with about 20 names expected at a July 13, 2026 launch.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Announcement date | May 28, 2026 |
| Exchange | Cboe Options Exchange (C1) |
| Pre-market session | 7:30 a.m. to 9:25 a.m. ET |
| Post-market session | 4:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. ET |
| Days | Monday through Friday |
| Names at launch | About 20 |
| Target launch | July 13, 2026 |
| GTH and Curb volume, Q1 2026 | +32% vs. Q1 2025 |
Cboe Global Markets said on May 28, 2026 that the Securities and Exchange Commission had approved extended trading hours for select multi-listed single-stock options on the Cboe Options Exchange, known as C1. The decision moves part of the U.S. options market into early-morning and late-afternoon windows that had largely belonged to the underlying shares and a small set of index products.
Under the approved plan, eligible options will trade in a pre-market session from 7:30 a.m. to 9:25 a.m. Eastern and a short post-market session from 4:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m., Monday through Friday. Cboe targeted July 13, 2026 for launch, contingent on SEC approval of a related rule filing. The pre-market window closes five minutes before the regular open, which leaves a short gap before the opening auction process for the regular session.
Eligibility rests on three tests: options average daily volume of at least 150,000 contracts, an underlying market capitalization of at least $50 billion, and underlying share volume of at least 10 million shares a day. Cboe expects about 20 names to qualify at launch, including large technology stocks such as Nvidia, Tesla and Apple, as well as Palantir, Broadcom and AMD. The screens limit the program to the most liquid contracts, where market makers have the deepest pools of underlying shares to hedge against outside regular hours.
The exchange linked the move to demand it already sees in its off-hours sessions. Volume in Cboe’s Global Trading Hours and Curb sessions rose 32% in the first quarter of 2026 from a year earlier. Cboe’s head of U.S. derivatives called the single-name rollout a deliberately “measured approach,” which signals that the exchange intends to expand only after seeing how the first group trades.
For brokers and market makers, the change adds operational work. Firms will need to quote and manage risk while underlying shares trade in thinner pre-market conditions, when spreads are often wider and prices can move sharply on overnight news. For investors, the benefit is the ability to adjust options positions closer to the moment news breaks, rather than waiting for the 9:30 a.m. open; the cost may be less favorable pricing than during the regular session.
What to watch: the related SEC approval needed before the July 13 start, whether competing options exchanges and the clearinghouse file matching changes so that multi-listed names can trade in the same windows across venues, and how much volume the first 20 names attract in their early weeks.
Prepared with AI assistance from public sources and reviewed under our editorial policy. Not investment advice.