The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) is set to go live today with its new screen-based trading platform, CBOEdirect.
The system will debut with trading of options on the Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJX). In subsequent weeks, options on the Russell 2000 Index (RUT) and S&P 100 Index (OEX & XEO) will be available for trading as well. The system will operate from 7:00 a.m. to 8:15 a.m., prior to the opening of regular trading, which begins at 8:30 a.m. (Chicago time).
According to William Brodsky, chairman and CEO of the Chicago Board Options Exchange, CBOEdirect, which has been built entirely in-house, is an unprecedented technological achievement and provides access to the entire options universe on a screen-based system. This provides investors with a new opportunity to trade index options during extended trading hours.
CBOEdirect replicates CBOE's trading floor on a screen, with liquidity providers making two-sided, continuous markets. SLK-Hull Derivatives, LLC; LaSalle Capital Markets, LP; LETCO DPM, LP; CTC, LLC; and Knight Financial Products are participating as Lead Market Makers (LMMs) for the platform's extended trading hours session.
The system was originally slated for launch in June 2001. The initiative was developed in response to the May 2000 launch of the all-electronic International Securities Exchange.