CBOE To List SPX Wednesday-Expiring Weeklys Options

CHICAGO, Feb. 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Chicago Board Options Exchange^® (CBOE^®) today announced that it plans to list S&P 500^® Index (SPX) Wednesday-expiring Weeklys^SM options beginning February 23, 2016. 

CBOE's new SPX Wednesday-expiring Weeklys options, or "Wednesday Weeklys," will generally have the same characteristics as CBOE's Friday-expiring SPX Weeklys options, with the exception of their listing and expiration dates. Wednesday Weeklys will typically be listed on Tuesdays and expire on the Wednesday of the following week.   

SPX options continue to be the most actively traded U.S. index option and, in 2015, set a new annual volume record of 236.5 million contracts, with average daily volume (ADV) of 938,620 contracts, an increase of 6 percent over 2014. 

SPX Weeklys, which accounted for approximately 35 percent of total SPX trading volume in 2015, are one of CBOE's fastest-growing products. ADV in 2015 set a 10^th consecutive record, reaching a new all-time high of 337,683 contracts, up 24 percent over 2014. 

"We are pleased to further expand our SPX product complex with the introduction of SPX Weeklys with Wednesday expirations," said CBOE Holdings CEO Edward T. Tilly. "Wednesday Weeklys, in addition to end-of-the-week expirations, will increase opportunities to trade SPX and enable investors to better target specific expirations. Wednesday Weeklys will align with VIX Weeklys futures and options, which also expire on Wednesdays, to provide greater trading flexibility for the increasing number of customers who use both our SPX and VIX product suites."

CBOE pioneered the short-term options trading in 2005 by introducing the first weekly expiring options contract. Except for more frequent expiration dates, Weeklys generally have the same contract specifications as monthly expiring contracts. To meet the growing demand for additional Weeklys trading, CBOE introduced CBOE Volatility Index^® (VIX^® Index) Weeklys futures in July 2015 and VIX Weeklys options in October 2015.  

Contracts with weekly expirations allow investors to implement more targeted buying, selling, spreading or hedging strategies. In addition, futures and options with weekly expirations can help investors take advantage of breaking news or known economic events, such as earnings, monthly U.S. economic reports and Federal Reserve announcements. Additional information on Weeklys options and futures can be found at www.cboe.com/Weeklys.

For an overview of Wednesday Weeklys options contract specifications and other operational details, refer to CBOE Regulatory Circular RG16-024 at http://www.cboe.com/aboutcboe/legal/crclreg.aspx.    

About CBOE:
Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), the largest U.S. options exchange and creator of listed options, continues to set the bar for options and volatility trading through product innovation, trading technology and investor education. CBOE Holdings offers equity, index and ETP options, including proprietary products, such as options and futures on the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX Index) and S&P 500 options (SPX), the most active U.S. index option. Other products engineered by CBOE include equity options, security index options, Weeklys options, FLEX options, and benchmark products such as the CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Index (BXM). CBOE Holdings is home to the world-renowned Options Institute, Livevol options analytics and data tools, and www.cboe.com, the go-to place for options and volatility trading resources.

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CBOE^®, Chicago Board Options Exchange^®, CFE^®, Execute Success^®, FLEX^®, Livevol^®, CBOE Volatility Index^® and VIX^® are registered trademarks, and BuyWrite^SM, CBOE Futures Exchange^SM, BXM^SM, Weeklys^SM and The Options Institute^SM are service marks of Chicago Board Options Exchange, Incorporated (CBOE).  Standard & Poor's^®, S&P^® and S&P 500^® are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services, LLC and have been licensed for use by CBOE, CFE and C2. All other trademarks and service marks are the property of their respective owners.  

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SOURCE Chicago Board Options Exchange

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