Expanded Trading Hours for Select Equity Options
Opening Process
The opening rotation process for equity options traded during GTH will follow the existing RTH opening process for multi-list options with minimal modifications. A class will begin the GTH opening rotation upon receipt of the first round-lot print in the underlying from any exchange and observation of a two-sided bid/ask in the underlying from any exchange following the start of the GTH session (7:30 a.m. ET).
For more information regarding the equity options opening process, see the U.S. Options Opening Process.
Risk Management
If a firm has existing Default Risk Management rules, those will automatically apply to both the GTH and Curb trading sessions. Alternatively, firms may choose to upload new rules for the GTH and Curb sessions. In order to have a new GTH or Default risk rule apply to the new multi-list GTH trading session, rules must be uploaded prior to 7:00 a.m. ET. Risk rules specified as Default or GTH and uploaded between 8:15 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. ET may optionally be applied immediately via the Customer Web Portal Risk Management Application. Firms cannot use the Secure Web API to make new rules immediately effective.
In order to have any updated or new Curb risk rules apply to the multi-list Curb trading session, rules must be uploaded prior to 3:40 p.m. ET.
The scheduled system risk reload times will be adjusted. Risk reloads will be scheduled to occur at 2:35 a.m., 7:05 a.m., 9:05 a.m., and 3:45 p.m. ET. In addition, the scheduled risk reload behavior will change. Scheduled reloads will only reset active risk counters for rules that have been changed.
The existing Pre-Open/GTH Session exchange default fat-finger limits will apply to the equity options products eligible to trade in GTH.
For more information, see the Cboe Titanium U.S. Options Risk Management Specification.
Membership and Eligibility
Trading Permit Holders (TPHs) must be authorized for GTH trading at the OCC and Cboe. Such authorization will allow GTH trading of equity options and Cboe proprietary index options. Thus, TPHs that are already authorized for GTH trading do not need any further authorization to trade equity options during the GTH session.
No additional action is needed to participate in Curb trading.
Order Handling and Market Functionality
To ensure system readiness, please note the following:
The existing SessionEligibility (FIX Tag 22017) will be used to designate session eligibility.
GTC Orders carried over from prior sessions will retain their session eligibility.
NBBO protection and routing functionality will apply during both GTH and Curb sessions.
Quoting and trading activity will be sent over existing OPRA RTH channels.
Quoting Obligations
Quoting obligations for Designated Primary Market Makers (DPMs) will apply collectively across all classes and sessions for the DPM.*
Quoting obligations for non-DPM Market Makers will apply collectively across all classes and sessions for the Market Maker.
RTH DPMs for applicable classes can choose to retain or give up their DPM status during the GTH session. If DPM status is retained for the GTH session, then all DPM obligations will apply, including those applicable during opening rotation. Cboe may solicit for Market Makers to perform the GTH DPM role in classes where the RTH DPM declines.*
*Subject to regulatory reviewAdditional regulatory guidance will be provided in a forthcoming Regulatory Circular.
Source: https://www.cboe.com/notices/content/?id=61230
What’s actually changing
Cboe’s new structure adds two sessions to the trading day. The morning Global Trading Hours (GTH) session runs from 7:30 a.m. to 9:25 a.m. ET, with order acceptance starting at 7:15 a.m. ET. After the regular session closes at 4:00 p.m. ET, a brief 15-minute “curb session” extends trading to 4:15 p.m. ET.
Why this matters for traders
The practical impact centers on one thing: timing. Options traders have long faced an awkward gap between when market-moving information hits and when they can actually act on it with options contracts. If Nvidia drops guidance in a pre-market press release at 8:00 a.m. ET, equity traders could already adjust their stock positions. Options traders had to wait until 9:30 and hope their intended trade still made sense at whatever price the market had already moved to.
That gap created a structural disadvantage for options-based strategies, particularly hedging. Portfolio managers holding large equity positions who rely on options for downside protection essentially had a 90-minute blind spot every morning where they could watch their stocks move but couldn’t adjust their hedges. That window just got significantly smaller.
Institutional traders may benefit most in the near term. The 7:30 a.m. start aligns with European market hours, which could appeal to global funds managing cross-border portfolios. A London-based trader hedging US tech exposure no longer needs to wait until 2:30 p.m. local time to put on an options position.
