Overview
- The SEC voted Tuesday to approve Cboe’s rule change to list standardized, cash-settled, European-style binary options that pay $1 if a reported metric meets or exceeds a preset strike and $0 if it does not.
- The initial program covers over 100 metrics across about 23 U.S. companies, including Apple, Nvidia, Tesla, Coinbase, Robinhood and MARA, with settlement determined from official SEC filings such as 10-Qs and 10-Ks.
- Trading is not yet live because Cboe Clear U.S. must obtain temporary registration as a covered clearing agency and regulators must review proposed fee-waiver arrangements for distribution through Robinhood.
- The contracts will trade under standardized options rules as National Market System securities, so existing securities protections on margin, trading halts and market-maker obligations will apply.
- The product gives traders a way to take direct operational or financial bets separate from stock or crypto prices, but the binary payoff concentrates risk because a single reported number can make a position expire worthless.