On Monday, CBOE Futures Exchange(SM) (CFE?) confirmed that it will extend trading hours for CBOE Volatility Index? (VIX? Index) futures to nearly 24 hours a day, five days a week, starting Sunday, June 22.
This comes as CFE announced June 22 as its planned launch date back in March.
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The trading week for VIX futures at CFE will now begin each Sunday at 5:00 p.m. CT and end on Friday at 3:15 p.m. CT. CFE will close for 15 minutes between 3:15 p.m. CT and 3:30 p.m. CT, Monday through Thursday, after which the next trading day will begin at 3:30 p.m. CT.
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CBOE Holdings CEO Edward T. Tilly said via a press release,?”We’ve been very encouraged by the number and diversity of users taking advantage of the additional trading hours since we extended hours for VIX futures last fall. We’re therefore pleased to expand trading to nearly around the clock during the trading week, which will accommodate Asian market hours and provide a growing worldwide user base even greater access and flexibility in trading VIX futures.”
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Year to date through May, approximately 7.5 percent of VIX futures average daily volume had been transacted outside of regular U.S. trading hours.
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In addition, over the last few years, CFE has lengthened its extended trading hours in VIX futures to accommodate customer requests for longer trading sessions outside of regular U.S. trading hours. Most recently, in October and November 2013, CFE added five hours, 45 minutes to the VIX futures trading day.