Cboe Extends Options Trading Hours to 29 Names Covering 53% of Volume

Cboe Options Exchange (C1) began trading options on 24 single stocks and 5 ETFs during extended hours on 19 October 2026, covering underlyings that generated roughly 53% of average daily U.S.-listed options volume through September 2026. The pre-market session runs 7:30 a.m. to 9:25 a.m. ET and the post-market session runs 4:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. ET, Monday to Friday. C1 was already the only U.S. options exchange offering pre- and post-market sessions for index options; the launch extends that franchise to multi-listed equity and ETF options for the first time.

Which names qualify?

The eligible list spans 29 underlyings: AAPL, AMD, AMZN, AVGO, BABA, BAC, F, GLD, GOOG, GOOGL, HOOD, INTC, IWM, META, MRVL, MSFT, MU, NFLX, NOK, NVDA, ORCL, PFE, PLTR, QQQ, SNDK, SPY, TSLA, TSM and XLF. Cboe describes the set as covering the "Magnificent 10" stocks, other widely followed U.S.-listed names and major ETFs. By Cboe's own statistic, these symbols carried approximately 53% of average daily U.S.-listed options volume in 2026 through September — a concentration figure desks can use to size the operational footprint of the change.

What does this change for execution workflow?

Two operational constraints matter for routing and risk systems. First, Cboe will not open an options class if the underlying security has not opened. Second, it will generally halt an options class if the associated underlying halts. Extended-hours liquidity in these names is therefore conditional on the underlying tape — a structural limit on how much volume can migrate into the new windows. Firms routing into C1 outside regular hours will need to model that dependency, alongside the narrower session windows (115 minutes pre-open, 15 minutes post-close) compared with Cboe's near 24×5 index-options franchise.

Rob Hocking, Global Head of Derivatives at Cboe, framed the launch as demand-driven: "The shift to 24×5 trading across asset classes is only accelerating, and that's been apparent in the demand for Cboe's index options during non-traditional hours, particularly leading up to the U.S. market open when economic data and corporate announcements are commonly released." He added that global investors "will be able to manage positions and risk with more flexibility in many of the names that drive today's market."

Broker support at launch

Several brokers are offering or plan to offer access, and their statements indicate where order flow may first appear:

• Fidelity — Josh Krugman, SVP brokerage, called extended hours "a meaningful evolution for the options market, giving investors greater flexibility and choice."
• Interactive Brokers — CEO Milan Galik: "Markets move around the clock, but trading hours for US equity options have remained limited. We welcome Cboe's initiative to narrow that gap."
• Moomoo — U.S. CEO Neil McDonald said the firm offers access "from day one," citing earnings and economic releases that "don't follow the market's trading schedule."
• Robinhood — VP of Product Management Abhishek Fatehpuria pointed to customers who "want to catch up on the news and look for market signals before the opening bell."
• Tiger Brokers Singapore — CEO Ian Leong noted the U.S. pre-market falls in the Singapore evening, "when much of the news that moves U.S. stocks is released," with education and risk controls attached to off-hours trading.
• TradeStation — President and CEO John Bartleman said TradeStation Securities is making extended-hours options available at launch through its existing toolset.
• Tradier — CPO Peter Laptewicz said the GTH session lets clients "react to market-moving events in real time, rather than having to wait for regular trading hours."

The breadth of retail-first support is a fact about the likely early liquidity profile, not a guarantee of institutional adoption. No statements in the launch materials commit buy-side institutions to routing in the new windows.

Context: Cboe's existing extended-hours footprint

Cboe already operates near 24×5 trading in its proprietary index options through Global Trading Hours (GTH, 8:15 p.m. ET to 9:25 a.m. ET) and Curb Trading Hours (4:15 p.m. ET to 5:00 p.m. ET). GTH trading set record monthly and quarterly average daily volume in September and the third quarter of 2026, according to Cboe. The operator's U.S. equities business currently trades 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET on two exchanges, and Cboe plans to launch 23-hour, 5-day trading on Cboe BZX Exchange on December 6, subject to industry readiness. The options extension, dated and specific, is one component of a broader hours expansion across the operator's asset classes.

Cboe has published an Equity Options Extended Trading Hours FAQ in its technical specifications for firms building connectivity. Whether the 15-minute post-close window widens, and whether the eligible symbol list grows beyond the current 29, will indicate whether extended-hours equity options become structural or remain a launch-phase experiment.