Any Outcome,
One Toolkit

Cboe's S&P 500 Toolkit provides tools that may assist investors in positioning their portfolios and navigating U.S. equity market volatility around the election. This versatile suite of index options and futures may help in mitigating downside risk and in capitalizing on potential upswings in the market.

Discover the S&P 500 Toolkit

  • Options

    SPX ®

    Ultimate Versatility

    The most actively traded and liquid index options in the US. SPX unlocks the full potential of risk management strategies based on the S&P 500.

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  • Options

    XSP ®

    Flexibility and Precision

    At 1/10 the size of the classic SPX, XSP provides more precision and granularity for scaling exposure to the S&P 500.

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  • Futures

    VXM

    Agile Risk Management

    At 1/10th the size of the standard VIX futures contract, Mini VIX futures offers additional flexibility in volatility risk management and greater precision when allocating among smaller managed accounts.

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  • Options

    VIX ®

    Volatility Guard

    With VIX options, hedge portfolio volatility risk distinct from market price risk and express your view of the future direction of volatility.

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  • Futures

    /VX

    Pure Play on Volatility

    With VIX futures, express your view on or hedge against expected volatility in the market.

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  • Futures

    VA

    NEW - Transparency & Flexible Execution

    Variance futures are a simple and transparent alternative to OTC variance swaps.

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  • Options

    UX

    NEW - Expanded Market Access

    Options on VIX futures offer more expiration choices and physically settle into front month VIX futures.

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Volatile markets, meet versatile strategies

Key benefits of the S&P 500 toolkit

  • One Access Point

    Enjoy the convenience and efficiency of executing Cboe options and futures with one clearing house and one executing broker.

  • Empower Decision Making

    Guide your trading decisions with real-time market indicators, premier education and expert analysis.

  • Trade Anytime, Anywhere

    Seize opportunities whenever they strike. Trade the suite of Cboe S&P 500 tools nearly 24 hours, 5 days a week, in every time zone — U.S., Europe and Asia.

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You've Been Looking For

Customer Whitepapers & Testimonials

For nearly five decades, asset owners and investment managers have relied on Cboe tools as the tried and trusted solution for mastering risk. Discover how our institutional clients, from hedge funds to insurers, pensions, and RIAs, have harnessed the power of the Cboe S&P 500 Toolkit to achieve their investment goals. Select from the portfolio objectives below to view the client whitepapers and testimonials.

  • Many investors are considering when and how much equity risk to take off the table. A particular challenge in the current environment stems from the low interest rate regime – a reallocation into fixed income offers the prospect of low or possibly negative returns and reduced effectiveness as a hedge to equities. We believe holding an equity allocation with an options overlay seeking downside protection may deliver the desired "smoother ride" while largely maintaining return expectations. In this way, an investor may improve confidence in the face of anticipated volatility through reshaping a portfolio's expected return distribution with a hedging program that is both effective and cost-efficient. Read more.

    Allspring Investment - Options-Based Downside Protection
  • Investors are always in search of diversifying securities and strategies to assist in downside risk management. We consider six popular diversifying securities, i.e. Gold, Swiss Franc, Japanese Yen, Bond Futures, S&P 500 80% strike Put Options, and Trend Following strategies in this paper. Using fifty years of data, we demonstrate that a portfolio approach to diversification strategies results in more robust outcomes when combined with a portfolio which has large equity exposure. While each of the individual securities can be more or less beneficial in specific periods and environments, we conclude that a simple portfolio approach to diversification, whether optimized or not, allows investors to robustly manage risk while not being overly concentrated.

    Diversifying Diversification: Downside Risk Management with Portfolios of Insurance Securities
The inclusion of research not conducted or explicitly endorsed by Cboe should not be construed as an endorsement or indication of the value of any research.

Maximize Every Trade

Fine tune your trading strategies

How you implement your trading strategies can be the defining factor in your success. Created by Cboe Labs, our suite of indices unlocks the keys to a deeper understanding of term structures, market sentiment dynamics and the ability to spot outliers.

Gain invaluable insights and make more informed decisions around positioning and timing your trades by exploring our real-time indicators below.

  • NEW

    DSPX

    Cboe S&P 500 Dispersion Index

    The Dispersion Index provides an indicator for the market's expectation of the magnitude of idiosyncratic movements in S&P 500 constituent prices over the next 30 days.

  • VIX

    Volatility Indices

    The leading indicator of expected market volatility.

    Shortest

    Longest

    VIX1D

    VIX9D

    VIX

    VIX3M

    VIX6M

    VIX1Y

  • COR

    Implied Correlation Term Structure

    Reflects changes in relative premium between SPX index options and single-stock options.

    Shortest

    Longest

    COR1M

    COR3M

    COR6M

    COR9M

    COR1Y

Harness The Knowledge.
Wield The Power.

Engage with the experts

At Cboe, we're dedicated to helping you navigate any market condition and efficiently manage risk. Engage with product innovators and world-class experts on how to use our tools, analyze markets and take your investment outcomes to new heights.

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There are important risks associated with transacting in any of the Cboe Company products or any digital assets discussed here. Before engaging in any transactions in those products or digital assets, it is important for market participants to carefully review the disclosures and disclaimers contained at: https://www.cboe.com/us_disclaimers. These products and digital assets are complex and are suitable only for sophisticated market participants. These products involve the risk of loss, which can be substantial and, depending on the type of product, can exceed the amount of money deposited in establishing the position.  Market participants should put at risk only funds that they can afford to lose without affecting their lifestyle.  © 2024 Cboe Exchange, Inc. All Rights Reserved.