• Cboe believes a distinction between the early GTH or after-market Curb session versus RTH sessions makes sense as it provides customers with a choice of sessions for their orders. For example, some may not want to be represented during the GTH or Curb sessions.

• Below is a summary of times, sessions, OPRA channels, OPRA trade condition codes, and last sale eligibility.

• Orders marked for All Sessions will automatically carry over and be actionable across all sessions. Those marked RTH Only will not be actionable during the GTH or Curb sessions. Those marked RTH+Curb will be actionable during the RTH and Curb sessions.

Firms are encouraged to maintain their own eligibility logic to avoid unintentional resting of orders at the open. The current list of GTH-eligible equity options classes will be published on the Cboe website and updated on a semi-annual basis.

• Expiring equity single stock options will trade until 4:00 p.m. ET as part of RTH and 4:15 p.m. ET in the Curb session on expiration day due to their American-style physical settlement, allowing traders to close positions rather than take or deliver shares. This is consistent with the close time for expiring ETF options trading until 4:15 p.m. ET but differs from expiring SPXW PM-settled index options which stop trading at 4:00 p.m. ET given their European-style cash settlement. In all cases, OCC marks closing and/or settlement prices based on the 4:00 p.m. ET National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO). OCC also bases in/out-of-the-money determination based on the 4:00 p.m. ET closing price of the underlying equity security.

• Cboe will provide "smoothed" NBBOs based on 4:00 p.m. ET and 4:15 p.m. ET snapshots for any equity options that Cboe trades after 4:00 p.m. ET.  Cboe already does this for its proprietary index options and will modify the files to include the equity classes in the new program.  The CSV files are available via the Cboe website, and the values are also disseminated to OPRA.

• Cboe will automatically halt trading upon receipt of regulatory halt indicators from the SIP and also maintain flexibility to declare manual halts in the interest of fair and orderly markets. Wide Market Protections may be considered based on customer feedback and demand.

• Complex trading will be available in both GTH and Curb trading sessions. Complex instruments that contain a stock leg will only trade during RTH and Curb and will not be eligible to trade during GTH.

• No. Market orders, stop orders, and stop-limit orders are not accepted during GTH or Curb sessions and will be rejected at order entry if submitted with a GTH or Curb session eligibility designation. Only limit orders are accepted during the new GTH and Curb sessions.

• Yes. Orders that are live on C1 at the RTH open will be rehandled following the Opening Process at 9:30 a.m. ET. If a resting order is marketable against an away market at that time, C1 will route the order accordingly — firms do not need to cancel and resubmit their orders prior to the RTH open to achieve best execution. This applies to orders designated for All Sessions (tag 22017 = A) or RTH + Curb (tag 22017 = B) that remain live and unexecuted as system transitions from the GTH session into RTH.

• the option class has an average daily volume of 150,000 contracts or higher,

• the underlying equity to the option has a $50 billion or higher market capitalization, and

• the underlying equity to the option has an average daily trading volume of 10 million shares or higher.

  Cboe proposes to limit the number of equity option classes that may be designated for the GTH and Curb sessions to 100 option classes. The intent is to monitor and assess the development and functioning of GTH and Curb markets for equity options within a limited group of equity options initially.

• The class list will be re-balanced twice per year. The list will be based on data from July 1 through December 31, and again based on data from January 1 through June 30, similar to the re-balance schedule for the penny program and the cash-settled ETF program.

• Equity option classes added to or removed from the GTH and Curb sessions will be announced in advance via Exchange Notice, similar to the penny program and the cash-settled ETF program.

• The Cboe rule caps the total number of equity option classes that Cboe may select at 100. Cboe chose criteria that would allow only premier companies of the highest quality, market cap, options/equity trading volume, etc. If other exchanges copy Cboe's qualification standards, the criteria would yield the exact same list of eligible companies and ensure names like meme stocks with temporary high volume or market cap are not eligible. However, if another exchange were to have different criteria and selected more than 100 equity option classes for GTH and/or Curb, Cboe may list those options, and such options selected in this manner would not count towards Cboe's 100 limit. It would be Cboe's choice whether to match other exchanges' lists. Cboe cannot predict whether the Securities and Exchange Commission will require competitors to match our qualification standards.

• The current list of GTH and Curb eligible underlying symbols can be found in the Cboe Options Underlying Reference Data file. GTH eligible underlying symbols will be marked wth a 'Y' in the "GTH Eligible" column and Curb eligible underlying symbols will be marked with a 'Y' in the "Curb Eligible" column. All series for an eligible underlying will be available to trade in GTH and Curb.

  • Certification Underlying Reference Data

  • Production Underlying Reference Data

• There is no change from the timing that occurs today when new series are added overnight. Symbol definition messages for these series are sent as soon as the series are received and processed from the OCC. This typically occurs between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. ET, but could vary based on OCC or Cboe processing time.

• Yes. The standards for eligibility are set forth in the GTH filing, and existing Cboe rules permitting Monday/Wednesday expirations will be applicable to single equity option classes. All series within an option class for a GTH-eligible symbol will be available for trading.

• Cboe originally included a provision in its initial proposed rule language that would have permitted accelerated GTH/Curb qualification for initial public offerings (IPOs), rather than having to wait for the next semi-annual qualification window. However, Cboe has since removed this provision to simplify GTH/Curb eligibility handling in alignment with its conservative approach to extending trading hours.

• The filing states Cboe will replicate its current multi-list opening process and apply it to the new GTH session in the morning. Products currently trading in GTH are relatively liquid during that period. In the new GTH sessions, trading activity in the underlying securities may likely not be as liquid, potentially leading to more manual intervention from market makers to manage risk. This issue would be exacerbated if/when other exchanges also expand trading hours that overlap with Cboe's new GTH sessions.

• Cboe intends to submit a rule filing to amend the GTH opening trigger. This change will modify the opening trigger for only the GTH opening from a bid/ask and print in the underlying from the primary listing exchange to a bid/ask and print in the underlying from any equities exchange.

• Cboe's opening rotation process begins upon receipt of a bid/ask and print in the underlying security from the primary listing exchange after the session start time (7:30 a.m. ET). An option will not open for trading unless the composite market, comprising the best local appointed market maker quote, bound by the away BBO, is within a configured opening price collar. There is no provision to prevent the opening based on the width of the underlying market. We note that equity markets begin trading much earlier than the proposed start of the GTH session.

• Cboe plans to add maximum market maker quote width requirements to its rules, with expected implementation sometime after the initial SSO GTH implementation, date TBD. Those width requirements will generally be $5, with a multiplier for longer-dated LEAPS expirations (subject to regulatory review), and ITM (In The Money) series may be quoted as wide as the underlying if wider than $5. Beyond that, Cboe has systematically-enforced opening price collars. A series will not open if there are crossed non-Market Maker orders and the composite market is wider than the opening collar width (OCW) requirement.

• Yes, Cboe will route to better-priced away markets as part of its opening logic. This applies to trades at the open and any other time during the trading day, across all sessions.

• No, the opening process will be the same on earnings days as any other day.

• Cboe intends for similar market maker requirements to apply across all trading sessions.

• Market maker continuous quoting obligations across all sessions will include a provision to allow quoting as wide as the underlying for ITM series.

• Cboe plans to add maximum market maker quote width requirements to its rules, with expected implementation sometime after the initial SSO GTH implementation, date TBD. On volatile days, the Exchange may grant maximum quote width relief. The Exchange may also grant relief with respect to opening collar widths.

• Yes. However, it is anticipated that Cboe will have a GTH Designated Primary Market Maker (DPM) for each class that trades during GTH. This DPM may differ from the RTH DPM in cases where the RTH DPM declines the role during GTH.

• Cboe rules on this point are the same during GTH and RTH. Cboe systematically prevents locked/crossed markets and will also have inter-exchange linkage available to route marketable orders to better-priced away exchanges, just as during RTH.