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CBOE Global Sees Strong Start to Mini VIX Futures Trading

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Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (CBOE - Free Report) has been witnessing strong trading volumes in the Mini VIX futures contract. The company announced plans for launching this product last month.

Notably, the Mini VIX futures started trading on the Cboe Futures Exchange (CFE) on Aug 9 with the commencement of CFE’s global trading hours session. During the first week following the product launch, trading volumes kicked off with more than 25,000 contracts on Aug 10 and reached more than 32,000 contracts on Aug 14.

Strong trading volumes throughout the first week led to the same reaching nearly 127,000 contracts in the week. It has to be noted here that 18% of total trading volumes in the week, which is equal to 23,000 contracts, took place during global extended trading hours of CFE.

Apart from high volumes, market quality as indicated by liquidity and tight spreads has also remained impressive in the first week.

VIX futures have been preferred as a volatility management tool by market participants for quite a long time. Notably, VIX futures contracts totaling 491.1 million have traded at CFE since the product’s launch in 2004.

Coming back to the company’s latest product launch, strong volumes reported in the first week underlines increased customer demand for wider variety of tools in order to gain direct exposure to the VIX index and manage risks more effectively. Notably, the product launch has been made considering the growing interest of customers in small-sized contracts.

In fact, the Mini VIX futures aptly fits into the situation. With its size being one-tenth of the standard VIX futures contract, the new product is not only cost-effective but also assists investors in devising and customizing their volatility strategies.

Moreover, the Mini VIX futures is an addition to the wide range of volatility products at CBOE Global, which is one of the largest stock exchange operators by volume in the United States and a leading market globally for exchange-traded products (ETP) trading.

Other Initiatives

Solid trading volumes following the product launch is not the only good news provided by the company. Last week, the company’s board of directors approved a 17% hike in its dividend. This marked the 10th straight year of dividend hike. Such shareholder-friendly moves underline the company’s strong liquidity position, which not only mitigates balance sheet risks but also paves the way for an accelerated capital deployment.

Price Performance

Shares of this company have lost 24.5% in a year’s time against the industry’s growth of 2.1%. The company’s peers namely — Nasdaq, Inc. (NDAQ - Free Report) , MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (MKTX - Free Report) and Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE - Free Report) have rallied 31.5%, 33% and 13.4%, respectively, in a year’s time.

The stock’s price performance does not look good in comparison to its peers. Nevertheless, expanding product line across asset classes, broadening geographic reach and leveraging technology are likely to help shares bounce back in the days ahead.

Notably, CBOE Global has a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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