Cboe Titanium Powers Rising Global Options Volume with FLEX & 24×5 Trading

Cboe Global Markets is advancing multiple fronts simultaneously: technology, product innovation, and market structure reform. Technology-wise, Cboe Ti is central—it enables consistent platform performance, global feature deployment, and resilient operations under volatility. According to Cboe, in 2024 its 27 global platforms maintained ~99.9%+ uptime (100% on 25 of them) and processed vast daily message flow volumes in its options exchanges. This is crucial given sharp increases in trading volume: for instance, Q3 2025 options contracts across U.S. markets set new records, including more than 110 million contracts traded industry-wide on October 10 [3].

On the product side, FLEX options are seeing particularly strong growth. In Q3 2025, average daily FLEX volumes reached ~1.3 million contracts, up nearly 50%, with single-stock FLEX dominating [3]. Innovations like combining FLEX and listed complex orders (announced in June 2025) further expand flexibility for participants, especially institutions seeking bespoke exposures with standardized execution and clearing benefits.

Extended and nearly 24-hour market access is another strategic pillar. Recognizing demand from overseas investors (Asia-Pacific notably), Cboe is proposing 24-hour, 5-days-a-week trading for all U.S. equities on its EDGX exchange, subject to regulatory review [4]. Concurrently, in late 2025 it will extend GTH to include the Russell 2000 options suite beginning February 9, 2026, enabling more liquidity for small caps outside regular hours [5]. These moves mirror global shifts toward continuous trading and alignment of market hours with global capital flows.

However, regulatory and infrastructural challenges remain non-trivial. The SIPs’ current operational hours limit exchanges’ ability to report quotes/trades during “dark hours,” a requirement under Regulation NMS. Also, recent SEC reforms—around tick size minimums, access fees, odd‐lot quotations—add complexity to implementing overnight trading [7]. From a strategic standpoint, Cboe must navigate regulatory approvals, build out operational readiness, and communicate the cost/benefit trade-offs to market makers, broker-dealers, and institutional vs retail classes. Understanding how liquidity will behave overnight, what the risk exposures are (e.g., news flows, gaps), and how market quality holds up will be essential open questions.

For investors and counterparties, these developments signal shifts in market structure: increasing competitiveness of listed derivatives versus OTC, higher transparency, and product standardization. Institutions using derivatives should evaluate capital and execution strategies under broader hours; for retail, greater access—but also greater complexity and risk exposure—follow.