Cboe wins SEC approval to list options on company performance metrics

Cboe Global Markets has secured approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission to list options tied to the performance metrics of publicly traded companies. That makes it the first US securities exchange cleared to offer this kind of product.

The SEC signed off on Cboe’s rule change on October 13, 2026. The products are binary options built around key performance indicators, or KPIs, reported by a select group of public companies. The structure is about as simple as a derivative gets.

If a company’s reported metric meets or beats a preset strike, the contract pays $1. If it falls short, it pays $0.

How the contracts work

The options are cash-settled and European-style. Cash-settled means no shares change hands at expiration: traders simply receive the payout in cash. European-style means the contract can only be exercised at expiry, not at any point before.

Initial targets include revenue, earnings per share, and operational figures. Around 23 actively traded US companies are expected to be part of the first batch. Apple and Tesla are among the names in the lineup.

Settlement will be based on data pulled from official SEC filings. That covers 10-K annual reports, 10-Q quarterly reports, and 8-K current reports.

The contracts will trade on the Cboe Options Exchange during regular market hours. Prices will move in penny increments, ranging from $0.01 to $1.03. Because the payout is capped at $1, the price of a contract roughly reflects the market’s estimate of the odds that a metric clears its strike.

The road to launch

Cboe submitted its proposal in early July 2026. Approval came about three months later.

The rollout is scheduled for October 2026, but it remains contingent on further regulatory authorizations. Chief among them is the temporary registration of Cboe Clear U.S. as a covered clearing agency. Cboe has applied to the SEC for temporary registration so Cboe Clear U.S. can handle clearing for the new options.

Robinhood is set to be the first retail distributor. Both Cboe and Robinhood plan to waive fees through December 31, 2026, though that arrangement is pending review.

The launch builds on Cboe’s earlier move into prediction markets, specifically Cboe Predicts, a set of binary options focusing on market indices introduced in June 2026. This time, the product sits squarely within the securities framework, under the SEC’s oversight.

What this means for traders and the market

KPI options strip away stock price noise. A trader who believes Apple will hit a revenue number no longer has to hope the stock agrees. The bet pays off on the metric alone.

For retail investors, the Robinhood partnership is the main distribution story. The fee waiver through the end of 2026 lowers the barrier further.

A binary payout means a position can go to zero on a single reported number. A trader who is slightly wrong loses just as much as one who is wildly wrong.

The items to watch now are concrete. Traders should look for the SEC’s decision on Cboe Clear U.S., the final list of companies and metrics, and whether the October 2026 launch date holds.