Cboe BZX Equities Early Trading to Begin at 4 a.m. ET

Reference ID: C2025033100

Applicable Cboe Exchange: BZX Equities

OVERVIEW

Effective May 1, 2025, Cboe BZX Equities Exchange (BZX) will begin accepting orders at 2:30 a.m. ET and will commence the Early Trading Session at 4:00 a.m. ET.

TECHNICAL DETAILS

Currently, BZX begins accepting orders at 6:00 a.m. ET and commences the Early Trading Session at 7:00 a.m. ET. Upon the effective date, BZX order acceptance and trading times will be updated as follows:

Table 1. BZX Trading Sessions
SessionStart Time (ET)End Time (ET)
Early Order Acceptance2:30 a.m.4:00 a.m.
Early Trading Session4:00 a.m.8:00 a.m.
Pre-Market Trading Session8:00 a.m.9:30 a.m.
Regular Trading Session9:30 a.m.4:00 p.m.
Post-Market Session4:00 p.m.8:00 p.m.
Orders carrying the following instructions will not be queued for either the 4:00 a.m. or 7:00 a.m. start time:
  • Post Only (RoutingInst (FIX Tag 9303) = P)
  • ISO (ExecInst (FIX Tag 18) = f)
  • IOC (TimeInForce (FIX Tag 59) = 3)
  • FOK (TimeInForce = 4)
  • Market Orders without TimeInForce = R (RHO) or a stop price
  • Orders with a Minimum Execution Quantity and TimeInForce = R (RHO)

Orders with Post Only, ISO, IOC, or FOK instructions may be entered during pre-market trading (i.e., not for queuing) as long as TimeInForce is not set to Regular Hours Only (RHO).

The system will applyTradeLiquidityIndicator (FIX Tag 9730) = A to orders placed during the order acceptance window. The system will initially applyTradeLiquidityIndicator = W to orders with the "Hold Early to 7am" port attribute applied placed before 7:00 a.m. ET. At 7:00 a.m. ET, the system will send a restatement message by default for orders sent using BOE order entry. When using FIX order entry, members must opt-in to State Change Tracking at the port level to receive notification that an order has been activated at 7:00 a.m. ET. Once the order is activated at 7:00 a.m. ET, the system will then apply TradeLiquidityIndicator = A, R, or X, as appropriate.

Hold Early to 7am Port Attribute

If Members want to prevent orders submitted before 7:00 a.m. ET with TimeInForce (59) specified for the Early Trading Session from being automatically submitted to the Exchange order book for processing at the new 4:00 a.m. ET Early Trading Session start time, they must request an update to the "Hold Early to 7am" port attribute. When the "Hold Early to 7am" port attribute is set to True, the system will queue orders submitted on the port for trading in the Early Trading Session until 7:00 a.m. ET and then release orders to the book for processing in time priority. This port attribute is not applicable to RHO or Stop orders, which are not eligible for trading in the Early Trading Session.

All port attributes may be updated by submitting a "Modify" request using the Logical Port Request form located within the Cboe Web Portal.

AttributeDefaultDescription
Hold Early to 7amFalse
  • Controls the executable time of orders submitted prior to 7:00 a.m. ET with a TimeInForce (59) that allows trading in the Early Trading Session.
  • False = Orders may enter the book and trade as early as 4:00 a.m. ET.
  • True = Orders will be queued until 7:00 a.m. ET.

Market Data Feed Changes

On the effective date, the BZX Multicast Depth of Book (PITCH), TOP, TCP, Summary Depth, Last Sale, and Cboe One Equities market data feed startup times will be moved to occur between 1:30 and 2:00 a.m. ET. Trading Status messages will be sent at the new trading schedule times. Trading Status = A will be sent at 2:30 a.m. ET and Trading Status = T will be sent at 4:00 a.m. ET. Book updates should be expected to be received immediately following the transition to trading at 4:00 a.m. ET. Any system messages generated prior to the SIPs distributing messages for the trading day will be sent once each SIP market data feed becomes available.

TESTING OPPORTUNITIES

The updated trading session times will be available to test in the BZX certification environment beginning April 1, 2025.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Resources

For more information, please refer to the following technical specifications:

Contact Information

Please contact the Cboe Trade Desk for support or with any questions.

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