On April 14, CBOE Holdings, Inc. said it will launch options on the MSCI Emerging Markets and MSCI EAFE Indexes on Tuesday, April 21. The CBOE ticker symbols are MXEF for options on the MSCI Emerging Markets Index and MXEA for options on the MSCI EAFE Index.
Under an agreement with MSCI Inc., announced in December 2014, options on the MSCI Indexes will be listed for trading in the U.S. solely on the Chicago Board Options Exchange? (CBOE? ). IMC Financial Markets will serve as the Electronic Designated Primary Market-Maker (E-DPM) for the new MSCI options contracts.
?Last year, nearly 100 million options traded industrywide on the popular EFA and EEM ETFs. CBOE?s ability to now also offer cash-settled, European-style options on these popular indexes enables us to better respond to the needs of institutional customers who wish to trade them,? said CBOE Chief Executive Officer Edward Tilly. ?In addition, the settlement times for the options will match the futures on these products, creating still more trading opportunities for our customers.?
Options on the MSCI Emerging Markets Index and the MSCI EAFE Index are designed to enable investors to efficiently hedge their non-U.S. equity portfolio exposures or to diversify their portfolios.