SEC Approves CBOE Holdings' Proposal To Trade SPXpm

CHICAGO, Sept. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- CBOE Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBOE) announced today that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved its rule filing to launch, on a pilot basis, SPXpm, its proposed new S&P 500 Index option product. SPXpm will be traded on the C2 Options Exchange (C2), the Company's all-electronic exchange.  

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C2's SPXpm product will be a cash-settled index option based on the S&P 500 Index, the premier benchmark of the broader U.S. market.  SPXpm is almost identical in structure to the Chicago Board Options Exchange's (CBOE) flagship S&P 500 SPX contract, the most-actively traded U.S. index option product, except, as the SPXpm name implies, it has a "p.m." settlement.  

"We are pleased to provide investors with a new, efficient way to trade options on the S&P 500," said William J. Brodsky, CBOE Holdings Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.  "SPXpm will offer users 'point-and-click' convenience, and the large contract size -- with one SPXpm contract being ten times larger than one SPY option contract  -- will make SPXpm extremely cost-effective to trade."  

Brodsky continued, "The launch of SPXpm will enable us to broaden our customer reach by providing two very deep pools of liquidity to trade the S&P 500 Index -- one trading SPXpm electronically on C2, and the other trading SPX AM with the ability to negotiate large, complex orders afforded by floor trading at CBOE."    

Details regarding a launch date will be announced in the near future.

A complete overview of SPXpm can be found at: http://www.cboe.com/SPXpm.

One final noteworthy item, the launch of SPXpm options on C2 will not impact, nor will it have any effect on, how CBOE calculates the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX).  VIX is calculated by using real-time SPX option bid/ask quotes.  VIX uses near-term and next-term at- and out-of-the money SPX options with at least eight days left to expiration and then weighs them to yield a constant, 30-day measure of the expected volatility of the S&P 500 Index.  The current methodology being used to derive the value of VIX will remain exactly the same.

CBOE Holdings, Inc. is the holding company for Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), C2 Options Exchange and other subsidiaries.  CBOE, the largest U.S. options exchange and creator of listed options, continues to set the bar for options trading through product innovation, trading technology and investor education. CBOE offers equity, index and ETF options, including proprietary products, such as S&P 500 options (SPX), the most active U.S. index option, and options on the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX). Other products engineered by CBOE include equity options, security index options, LEAPS options, FLEX options, and benchmark products such as the CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Index (BXM). CBOE's Hybrid Trading System incorporates electronic and open-outcry trading, enabling customers to choose their trading method. CBOE's Hybrid is powered by CBOEdirect, a proprietary, state-of-the-art electronic platform that also supports C2 Options Exchange (C2), the CBOE Futures Exchange (CFE), CBOE Stock Exchange (CBSX) and OneChicago. CBOE is home to the world-renowned Options Institute and www.cboe.com, named "Best of the Web" for options information and education.

CBOE is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with all trades cleared by the OCC.

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CBOE®, Chicago Board Options Exchange®, CBSX®,  CBOE Stock Exchange®,  CFE®,  CBOEdirect®,  FLEX®,  Hybrid®,   LEAPS®,  CBOE Volatility Index® and VIX® are registered trademarks, and BuyWriteSM, BXMSM, SPXSM, SPXpmSM, C2SM, C2 Options ExchangeSM, CBOE Futures ExchangeSM and The Options Institute are servicemarks of Chicago Board Options Exchange, Incorporated (CBOE).  Standard & Poor's®, S&P®, S&P 500® and SPDR® are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services, LLC and have been licensed for use by CBOE.  

This press release may contain forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Forward-looking statements are those statements that reflect our expectations, assumptions or projections about the future and involve a number of risks and uncertainties.  These statements are only predictions based on our current expectations and projections about future events. There are important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from that expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including: legislative or regulatory changes; changes in law or government policy; increasing competition; loss of our exclusive licenses; decrease in trading volumes; an inability to introduce competitive new products and services; competitive pressures on our existing products, services and trading access fees; changes in price levels and volatility in the derivatives and equity markets; economic, political and market conditions; increases in our fixed costs and expenses; loss of existing customers; difficulty developing strategic relationships and attracting new customers; increased costs related to, or the loss of, intellectual property; rapid technological developments; increases in trading volume and order transaction traffic that we cannot accommodate; our ability to maintain our growth effectively; damage to our reputation and brand name; loss of market data revenue; detrimental changes to our fee structure; failure to effectively monitor and manage our risks; customer consolidation; and changes to the tax treatment for options trading.

More detailed information about factors that may affect our performance may be found in our filings with the SEC, including in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 and other filings made from time to time with the SEC.  

SOURCE CBOE Holdings, Inc.