Meaghan Dugan

Dugan brings over 20 years’ experience in listed options trading and market making to the role. 

She previously served as head of options at the New York Stock Exchange, overseeing NYSE Amex options and NYSE Arca options markets.  

Before joining NYSE, she spent 11 years at Bank of America, most recently as head of product for US electronic options and global futures algorithms.  

Elsewhere in her career, Dugan worked at Morgan Stanley as a lead market maker in its automated market making business, and then later in MSET, an electronic trading team delivering trading algorithms and solutions to institutional and buy-side trading. 

As part of her new role, Dugan will be responsible for overseeing the business strategy, competitive positioning, market structure and market development for Cboe’s US options business. 

“I have long admired Cboe for not only its remarkable success in US options, but also its ongoing expansion into a truly global derivatives powerhouse,” said Meaghan Dugan, head of US options at Cboe.  

“[…] I am incredibly excited to join a team that shares my spirit of innovation and commitment to excellence, and I look forward to helping propel Cboe’s US options business into its next phase of growth.” 

Dugan’s appointment comes as part of Cboe’s latest expansion of its global derivatives team to strengthen its business development, market intelligence and sales capabilities across the US, Europe and APAC. 

Other recent appointments include Steven Jorgensen as head of derivatives sales for Europe and the Middle East, and Jason Beck as senior director of derivatives sales, head of Florida and US sell-side.  

Cboe’s APAC derivatives sales team has also expanded with the appointment of Hiroshi Okitsu, James Paik and Lydia Stringer as sales directors, and Vincent Wang as sales manager.  

Elsewhere, Cboe expanded its derivatives market intelligence team with the appointment of Henry Schwartz as vice president, market intelligence, and Ed Tom as senior director, market intelligence. 

“This is an incredibly exciting time for Cboe’s global derivatives business as we continue to unlock new opportunities for growth by scaling up globally across every critical function,” said Catherine Clay, global head of derivatives at Cboe.  

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The decision relates to the exchange’s US equities business on its Cboe EDGX Equities Exchange (EDGX) and is currently awaiting regulatory approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Cboe said the move followed “growing global customer demand” for expanded trading hours in the asset class. As part of the expansion, all listed NMS stocks will become available for trading on EDGX for 24 hours Monday – Friday.

“We continue to hear from market participants globally – particularly those in Asia Pacific markets like Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Australia – that they want greater access to US equities trading and need trusted venues that can offer transparency, robust liquidity and efficient price discovery,” said Oliver Sung, head of North American equities at Cboe Global Markets.

“As the world’s largest global exchange operator, Cboe is uniquely positioned to meet that demand. By leveraging our global infrastructure, leading-edge technology, and proven experience facilitating around-the-clock trading in global markets, we believe we can seamlessly support a 24×5 trading model for US equities.”

The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) is set to clear all trades.

Cboe currently supports extended trading hours for US equities on EDGX. Early order acceptance commences at 2:30am ET and trading is available from 4am ET to 8pm ET, throughout the working week.

Read more – Are we on our way to 24/7 trading in equities?

The exchange also currently offers a 24/5 trading model in its proprietary S&P 500 Index (SPX) options, and Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) options and futures markets, as well as a 24-hour five day a week model for its global FX markets.

Cboe is the latest exchange to move to expand its US equities trading hours as the markets continuously assess the viability of the trading model – which has historically been limited to foreign exchange and digital assets – for equities.

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Catherine Clay, global head of derivatives at Cboe

The new options on VIX futures will offer investors an additional tool to help manage US equity market volatility. They complement Cboe’s existing securities-based VIX index options, which are designed to provide similar risk management and yield enhancement capabilities.

The new product uses an option-on-future structure, which could potentially allow more market participants, including those restricted from accessing securities-based options, to trade a VIX options product.

Cboe’s VIX Index options have seen record trading volumes over the past two years, with average daily volumes reaching over 851,000 contracts in 2024, up roughly 60% when compared to 2022.

“Investors have long utilised VIX options and VIX futures to help hedge and manage volatility exposure, and Cboe is proud to expand our volatility product suite at such a critical time,” said Catherine Clay, global head of derivatives at Cboe.

“The launch will complement our existing volatility offerings, including the recently launched Cboe S&P 500 Variance futures, and enable more investors with the ability to help manage volatility and risk through the election season and beyond.”

Read more: Cboe set to launch new Cboe S&P 500 Variance Futures

Cboe Global Markets added that options on VIX futures will have a European-style exercise, PM settlement and physically settle into front-month VIX future.

The contracts will be regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and cleared by The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC).

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Rob Hocking

The new futures aim to provide market participants with an additional tool to calculate implied volatility of the US equity market as measured by the S&P 500 Index, and to manage volatility risks and express directional views.

The futures are designed to offer an improved approach to trading the spread between implied and realised volatility, allowing users to take advantage of discrepancies between market expectations and actual outcomes.

“The launch of Cboe S&P 500 Variance Futures comes at a crucial time when risk management is top of mind for many market participants, amid the backdrop of the upcoming US election, shifting monetary policy and ongoing geopolitical tensions,” said Rob Hocking, head of product innovation at Cboe.

“As demand for hedging and income generation rises, our goal is to broaden access to the derivatives markets by simplifying complex, capital-intensive strategies and making them more easily tradable in an exchange-listed, centrally cleared environment.”

Cboe Global Markets expects the new futures to appeal to a wide range of market participants with a wide range of investment objectives, including volatility traders and hedge funds seeking capital efficiency and transparency; institutional investors managing equity volatility risk and expressing directional views; portfolio managers aiming for enhanced diversification and risk premia capture; and dealers and market makers transitioning from OTC variance swaps to standardised products.

“Having traded variance since 2002, being able to trade a simple cleared variance product will be a very welcome addition to our portfolio,” said Keith DeCarlucci, chief investment officer at Melqart Asset Management.

Read more: Cboe to launch options on Cboe Volatility Index futures

The Cboe S&P 500 Variance Futures contracts will settle based on a calculation of the annualized realized variance of the S&P 500 Index.

The realised variance will be calculated once daily from a series of values of the S&P 500 Index beginning with the closing index value on the first day a VA futures contract is listed for trading and ending with the special opening quotation (SOQ) of the S&P 500 Index on the final settlement date of that contract.

Cboe Global Markets added that the contracts will quote and trade directly in variance units, offering a simplified approach to managing and trading variance exposure.

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SBI will transfer its 14.8% ownership interest in Japannext to Cboe, subject to regulatory approval.

“Cboe, a global trading solution provider and market operator, will become a new shareholder of Japannext. We believe that this will promote innovation in the Japanese capital markets in ways that increase competitiveness, reduce trading costs and provide more choices for investors,” confirmed Masakatsu Yamada, representative director and chief executive at Japannext.

Japannext provides financial services and market solutions focused on operating an alternative market.

Read more: Cboe Global Markets to launch US Treasury market volatility index

“Japan is one of the world’s largest and most important capital marketplaces and this investment reaffirms Cboe’s strong commitment to Japan,” said Fred Tomczyk, chief executive at Cboe Global Markets.

“We believe this investment will help us strengthen our relationships within the industry and expand our presence beyond our ownership of Cboe Japan, which we plan to continue to operate independent of Japannext.”

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The expansion will mean that the exchange will publish intraday values for its 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF Volatility Basis Point Index (VIXTLT).

The index leverages Cboe’s proprietary VIX Index methodology and provides participants with the ability to track 30-day expected volatility in the US Treasury market in real-time.

Cboe confirmed the expansion of its monitoring capabilities would support participants in the lead up to the regime shift expected to be caused by the election in the US in November, alongside continued interest rate led volatility in the region.

“Market participants have long sought a VIX-like gauge for US Treasury volatility, and with the US election and the Federal Reserve’s expected monetary policy shift looming, interest in this asset class remains high,” said Rob Hocking, head of product innovation at Cboe.

“With both the VIXTLT and the VIX indices utilising similar methodologies, investors will be able to gain a more like-to-like view of expected volatility in the bond and equity markets, potentially enabling them to make more informed decisions.”

In light of rising client demand, Cboe confirmed the VIXTLT index is available in basis point volatility terms and aims to provide an absolute measure of volatility. The index is calculated using listed options on the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT).

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Rob Hocking

Cboe currently offers securities-based VIX Index options, allowing investors to manage or gain exposure to broad US equity market volatility.  

The new options on VIX futures will offer a similar utility but will be based on front-month VIX futures.  

With futures as the underlying asset, these options will be CFTC-regulated, allowing for a range of market participants that are restricted from accessing US securities-based options to use this new offering to state their views on equity market volatility.

“As the pioneer in volatility trading, Cboe continues to expand its VIX complex with additional products and services targeted at helping market participants better manage portfolio risk and trade volatility,” said Rob Hocking, head of product innovation at Cboe.

“[…] With the US election quickly approaching, which has historically been a meaningful volatility catalyst for markets, we expect these tools will help meet customer demand to effectively manage risk.”

Read more: Cboe posts solid Q2 results with strong performances across derivatives and cash and spot markets

The new options will be European-style, meaning they can only be exercised at expiration, alongside being physically settled into front-month VIX futures.

They are expected to complement the existing VIX Index options, allowing customers to have more choice in expiration dates and enabling more granular hedging strategies.

Users of options on VIX futures will have the ability to hedge those positions using front-month VIX futures and standard VIX Index options.

“By listing these options on Cboe’s US futures exchange, CFE’s global network of FCMs and brokers can trade them using the same connections and memberships already established for trading VIX futures, thereby enhancing ease and accessibility,” added Catherine Clay, head of global derivatives at Cboe.

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The new index will be calculated using listed options on the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) and will enable market participants to track future expected volatility in the US Treasury market.

VIXTLT Index will be available in both percentage price volatility and basis point volatility terms.

The new offering expands Cboe’s volatility index suite and adds to Cboe’s current offering of more than 450 derivatives-based indices, covering various strategy benchmarks and asset classes.

TLT is an exchange-traded fund (ETF) composed of US Treasury bonds with remaining maturities exceeding twenty years that have a relatively high duration.

Highly liquid options on TLT with a wide range of strikes provide information on investors’ potential viewpoints on the future of US interest rates. This is then distilled by the VIXTLT Index methodology to one number designed to represent a consensus view on expected US Treasury volatility.

“Cboe offers a comprehensive ecosystem of services, touching every aspect of the customer experience – from market access and data, to tradable products and beyond,” said Rob Hocking, senior vice president and head of product innovation at Cboe.

“By combining our derivatives expertise with leading indexing capabilities, we are able to identify gaps in our product offering and utilise our robust technology, data and customer feedback to continuously drive product development that meet customers’ needs.”

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The new development builds on an existing relationship between the two firms, leveraging their combined expertise to develop new derivatives products. This could potentially start with cash-settled index options tied to the FTSE Bitcoin Index and the FTSE Ethereum Index.

As part of the collaboration, Cboe plans to list cash-settled index options on FTSE’s indices – subject to regulatory approvals – which will target increased investor demand for exchange-traded derivatives to manage crypto exposure in a US-regulated trading environment.

“Our expanded relationship today mirrors that successful model of collaboration, combining Cboe’s unrivalled derivatives expertise with FTSE’s world-class indexing capabilities to potentially bring new solutions to the digital assets space,” said Catherine Clay, global head of derivatives at Cboe.

“[…] As these two asset classes converge, we look forward to driving continued innovation and our relationship with FTSE Russell will be key to this strategy.”

The FTSE Bitcoin Index and FTSE Ethereum Index are part of the FTSE Digital Asset Indices series, developed in partnership with Digital Asset Research (DAR).

These indices capture the performance of bitcoin and ether, as determined by the FTSE DAR Reference Price, offering exposure to the digital asset market.

“We are delighted to continue working alongside Cboe Global Markets, realising our mutual commitment to enable new asset innovation in financial markets,” said Fiona Bassett, chief executive of FTSE Russell.

“Our indices are used by some of the largest crypto asset managers in the world for their best-in-class data and processes built to manage regulatory and trading risk – critical differentiators for the data in this asset class.”

Cboe added in a statement that it plans to share more details about its intentions for cash-settled index options on the FTSE Bitcoin Index and the FTSE Ethereum Index potentially later this year.

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Cboe iBoxx $ Emerging Market Bond Index futures will be listed for trading on  17 June. The new futures will be based on the S&P Dow Jones Indices’ iBoxx USD Liquid Emerging Market Sovereigns and Sub-Sovereigns Index.

The exchange operator confirmed the futures are designed to offer investors exposure to US dollar denominated bonds issued by governments or sub-sovereign issuers from emerging markets.

They could also be used to hedge existing exposures, implement relative value strategies against other fixed income instruments or manage interest rate and credit risk for current and potential emerging market debt investors.

The futures will be exchange-traded and centrally cleared. Cboe confirmed this will limit counterparty risk compared to over-the-counter instruments. They will be cash settled and available to trade almost 24-hours per weekday.

Cboe Futures Exchange will be listed for trading up to four near-term serial contract months and four contract months on the March quarterly cycle for the futures.

“Cboe changed the way investors traded volatility 20 years ago with the launch of VIX futures, and today we continue to innovate and strategically offer new ways to manage risk across asset classes,” said Rob Hocking, senior vice president and head of product innovation at Cboe Global Markets.

“Whether investors or fund managers are looking to hedge current positions or gain broad exposure to the market for bonds issued by governments or sub-sovereign issuers from emerging market countries, IEMD futures are designed to provide that exposure in a US regulated and capital efficient manner.”

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