On Thursday, CBOE Futures Exchange, LLC?(CFE?) announced plans to expand trading hours for its CBOE Volatility Index??(VIX??index) futures in a two-phase process, beginning in May, followed by a second one in June.
The changes are subject to regulatory review.
The current trading hours are?7:00 a.m. CT to 3:15 p.m. CT and from the first phase of expanded trading hours, it will address U.S. customers’ demand for a post-settlement trading period. For the second phase, it will address European-based customers’ needs to trade VIX futures during their local trading hours.
Phase one will begin on Thursday, May 30, 2013 and encompasses the following:
- A 45-minute expansion in VIX futures trading hours?
- Fifteen minutes after the?3:15 p.m. CT?close of VIX futures, the market will reopen for a new trading session from?3:30 p.m. CT to 4:15 p.m. CT. Trading will then resume at 7:00 a.m. CT?the next morning.
- The new 45-minute period, which represents the start of a new trading day, will be available from Monday through Thursday.
The second phase it will start on Monday, June 17, 2013 and includes these changes:
- VIX futures trading hours will expand by five additional hours with trading starting at?2:00 a.m. CT?(8:00 a.m.?London?time), Monday through Friday.
- Similar to the first phase, the?3:30 p.m. CT – 4:15 p.m. CT?trading period will only be available Monday through Thursday.?
Trading is not scheduled on either Saturdays or Sundays.
CFE has already expanded VIX futures trading in Europe this year as it opened a London Hub on February 1.?The Hub, which connects the Equinix facility in?England?to the CBOE Command Center at the New Jersey Equinix facility, gives European firms an economical choice to connect to the CFE trading matching engine. ?