MIAX Files With SEC for Binary Index and KPI Options, Targeting 2027 Launch

MIAX Options has submitted proposed rule filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission to list cash-settled binary index options — including contracts on its exclusively licensed Bloomberg equity indices — and cash-settled binary options tied to company key performance indicators, with the index products planned for launch in 2027, subject to regulatory review.

The filings, announced by parent Miami International Holdings (MIH), mark the first step toward binary options on the group's SEC-registered exchanges. The planned index contracts would clear and settle at The Options Clearing Corporation (OCC), pending SEC review and operational readiness.

What would the contracts do?

The binary index options would let market participants take a view on whether a broad-based benchmark — the exchange cited the Bloomberg 500 (B500) Index and the Bloomberg 100 (B100) Index — finishes above or below a stated level at expiration. Payout is therefore a function of a single, observable settlement event rather than the graduated payoff of a conventional listed option.

The KPI binary options would work the same way but anchor the payout to a performance metric a public company reports in its SEC filings: revenue, earnings per share, or another disclosed operating figure, measured against a predetermined threshold. MIAX has not yet set a launch timeline for the KPI contracts; that date, the company said, will be announced later and remains subject to SEC review as well as operational and clearing readiness.

Both product families are cash-settled, which removes the delivery mechanics that equity-settled contracts carry.

Why the Bloomberg pairing matters

The index filings extend a franchise MIAX already owns. The exchange holds an exclusive license to the Bloomberg equity indices, and the binary contracts would be the first options products built directly on that license within the binary format. Company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Thomas P. Gallagher framed the move as part of a broader product build-out.

"Investors increasingly want event-driven exposure, whether that's where a benchmark closes or whether a company hits a specified performance metric," Gallagher said. "We believe that pairing binary options contracts with our Bloomberg index franchise and with company-reported KPIs is an important initiative as we build out our proprietary product offerings."

The CEO's statement separates two demand drivers that desks should read distinctly: directional views on index closes, and views on whether a company meets a disclosed metric. The second category is the more novel listing, since no current U.S. exchange product ties an option payout directly to a firm's reported revenue or EPS figure.

How are these regulated?

Binary options are classified as security options by the SEC. That classification places them under the same regulatory guidelines and the same customer protections as traditional U.S.-listed options — a point MIAX stressed, and one that distinguishes the products from off-exchange binary instruments that have operated outside U.S. securities oversight. MIAX also said the structure delivers institutional-grade liquidity, market transparency and rigorous oversight; the first two of those claims will be testable only once the contracts trade, while the third follows directly from the SEC classification and OCC clearing.

What is mandated versus what is proposed?

Nothing in the announcement is effective yet. The rule filings are proposals under SEC review. What is fixed: the product design (cash-settled binaries on indices and KPIs), the clearing venue (OCC), and the target launch year for the index contracts (2027). What is open: SEC approval itself, the operational readiness condition, and the entire timeline for the KPI options.

For execution desks, the 2027 target leaves a long lead time before any workflow impact, but the filings signal where the exchange intends to compete — on event-driven payoffs built from proprietary index and disclosure data rather than on yet another variant of standard listed options.