Given the record growth in our industry, which regions and asset classes will lead in 2025 and beyond?
As the world’s largest global exchange operator, Cboe has a unique perspective across multiple markets and regions. From our vantage point, the US continues to offer significant growth potential, especially in equities and derivatives trading. Investors globally are increasingly seeking exposure to the US markets, drawn by the deep liquidity, track record of outperformance and robust regulatory framework that collectively make the US a magnet for global capital.
We saw particularly strong growth in US options trading, which hit record volumes for the fifth straight year in 2024, as both retail and institutional investors tapped into options for hedging and income-generation strategies. In the Asia Pacific region – particularly Korea, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong – retail investors are demonstrating a strong appetite for equities and options trading in not only their local markets, but increasingly in the US as well. We expect this engagement will continue, underscoring the US markets’ enduring global appeal.
What do you see as the biggest risk to continued growth in trading volume?
Ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, whether due to fluctuations in interest rates or geopolitical tensions, may heighten market volatility, impacting investor sentiment and market participation. It is critical that the industry provides investors of all wallet sizes with the tools they need to build wealth, manage risk and trade through any market environment.
Equally important is capital efficiency – ensuring investors can flexibly and efficiently allocate capital and resources to market opportunities. When investors have a positive trading experience, it fosters sustained engagement and supports healthy trading volumes over the long term.
At Cboe, we have been innovating and introducing new products with this mission in mind. Within our S&P 500 Index (SPX) and Cboe Volatility Index (VIX) product suites, each product represents a hedging tool on the underlying S&P 500 Index, offering a slightly different, yet complementary exposure. Each product offers a distinct use case, providing traders the flexibility to engage strategically in various market environments.
And thinking about innovation, which technology advances offer the most opportunity looking forward?
We see exciting new opportunities with the democratization of data, continued adoption of cloud technologies, clearing and data and analytics. Artificial intelligence, in particular, will play a transformative role in both our business and operations.
Cboe successfully introduced many AI-driven initiatives in 2024 and plans to expand these efforts in 2025 under our AI Center of Excellence, which leads the company’s efforts in exploring and adopting new technologies like generative AI.
Our leading-edge technology powers every facet of our business – from enhancing our market infrastructure, supporting the seamless roll-out of new products and facilitating greater market access, to ensuring the resiliency of our trading platforms. Technology will remain key to our success, and to mark an exciting new chapter in Cboe’s technology evolution, we recently branded our exchange technology platform as Cboe Titanium or Cboe Ti for short – conveying the lightweight strength, durability and resilience of our technology.
What is the biggest challenge ahead for your exchange or for the industry as a whole?
As global markets become increasingly interconnected, Cboe sees significant opportunities to expand market access for investors worldwide – and market data is the foundation of this effort. In many regions, investors increasingly want to participate in US markets, but gaining access to efficient and reliable US market data remains challenging.
Cboe is breaking down barriers by collaborating with industry partners to deliver high-quality market data to their customers, whether through the cloud or other distribution methods. In addition to data, our global footprint allows us to bring tradable products and services to market participants globally, facilitating investment flows back to the US and ultimately shaping a more connected financial ecosystem. Investor education is also key.
Through Cboe’s Options Institute and Cboe’s affiliates, we offer multilingual learning experiences – beginning with Hindi and Spanish – and plan to introduce Russian, Dutch, German and French content throughout 2025, pending regulatory review, to meet global demand.
Given the rapid pace of new products introduced in 2024, which three excite you most?
Cboe was at the forefront of several transformative trends, setting the standard for innovation. First, was the introduction of US spot bitcoin exchange traded fund options. In addition to listing these products, Cboe launched index options based on the Cboe bitcoin US ETF Index. We continue to see strong demand from many issuers that use these index options for defined-outcome ETFs.
Another defining trend was the demand for exchange-listed products, as investors increasingly sought to replicate strategies traditionally handled over-the-counter in a more transparent and capital-efficient, centrally cleared marketplace. In response, Cboe expanded its product suite with Cboe S&P 500 Variance Futures and Options on VIX Futures.
Finally, we saw a rise in options-based ETFs, which deliver options exposure in a simple, efficient exchange-traded wrapper. From providing the underlying options to developing indices and listing ETFs, Cboe leveraged the full strength of its exchange ecosystem to help issuers bring these products to market.
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