CBOE Futures Exchange(SM) (CFE®) confirmed today 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. In March, CFE announced June 22 as its planned launch date.
The trading week for VIX futures at CFE will 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.
"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," CBOE Holdings CEO Edward T. Tilly said. "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."
Year to date through May, approximately 7.5 percent of VIX futures average daily volume was transacted outside of regular U.S. trading hours.
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 last year, CFE added five hours, 45 minutes to the VIX futures trading day.
For more information, refer to Regulatory Circulars RG14-017 and RG17-018 at http://cfe.cboe.com/aboutcfe/legal/regcirc.aspx.