Cboe Global Markets

Cboe Global Markets, Inc. stands as one of the world's largest exchange holding companies, providing cutting-edge trading solutions and market infrastructure across multiple asset classes. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Cboe operates exchanges and trading platforms for options, equities, futures, foreign exchange, and digital assets, serving market participants across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. The company's flagship innovation, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX)—widely known as the "fear gauge" of Wall Street—has become the premier barometer of market sentiment and expected volatility since its introduction in 1993.

Founded on April 26, 1973, as the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), the company revolutionized financial markets by introducing the first standardized, exchange-traded stock options, transforming what had been an inefficient over-the-counter market into a transparent, liquid marketplace. That historic first day saw 911 contracts traded on just 16 stocks from a converted smoking lounge at the Chicago Board of Trade. By 1976, monthly trading volume had exploded to 1.5 million contracts, validating the transformative nature of the exchange-traded options concept. The simultaneous development of the Black-Scholes options pricing model in 1973 provided the theoretical foundation that enabled the industry's explosive growth.

Cboe's evolution into a global powerhouse accelerated through strategic milestones including its 2010 initial public offering, the transformative $3.2 billion acquisition of BATS Global Markets completed in February 2017, and its October 2017 rebranding from CBOE Holdings to Cboe Global Markets. The BATS acquisition brought advanced trading technology and significant equity market share, positioning Cboe as a comprehensive multi-asset class exchange operator. The company successfully migrated its exchanges onto the BATS technology platform, with Cboe Futures Exchange completing the transition in February 2018. In 2018, Cboe delisted from NASDAQ and began trading exclusively on its own exchange, a powerful statement of confidence in its own market infrastructure.

Cboe's business model spans three primary segments: Derivatives Markets (including proprietary index options like SPX and VIX), Data Vantage (providing market data, analytics, and indices), and Cash and Spot Markets (equity trading and FX). The company achieved record financial results in 2024, reporting annual net revenue of $2.1 billion (up 8% year-over-year) and record adjusted diluted earnings per share of $8.61 (up 10% YoY). All three business segments contributed to this growth, with particularly strong performance in options trading where Cboe enjoyed its fifth consecutive year of record volumes, averaging 14.95 million contracts daily across its four U.S. options exchanges. The company's proprietary index options complex, anchored by S&P 500 Index (SPX) and VIX options, set all-time high average daily volumes.

With a market capitalization of approximately $23-25 billion and 1,685 employees as of December 2024, Cboe continues to innovate at the forefront of market structure evolution. Recent strategic initiatives include realigning its digital asset business in April 2024 to focus on derivatives and clearing while winding down spot market operations, expanding collaboration with FTSE Russell to develop innovative digital asset derivatives products, and introducing new volatility products like Options on VIX Futures launched in October 2024. The company's commitment to market quality, technological excellence, and product innovation positions it to capitalize on secular trends including the explosive growth of zero-day-to-expiry (0DTE) options, increased demand for volatility hedging products, and the ongoing digitalization of financial markets.