Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe: CBOE) announced on Aug. 6, 2026, that its pan-European clearing house, Cboe Clear Europe, will expand its Securities Financing Transactions (SFT) clearing service to include fixed income instruments beginning August 24, 2026. This expansion allows lenders and borrowers to clear EU, Swiss, UK, and US government and corporate bonds through a central counterparty, aiming to improve capital efficiency and reduce risk-weighted asset exposures for market participants.

The move builds on the successful launch of Cboe Clear Europe’s SFT clearing service in 2025, which initially covered European cash equities and ETFs across 19 European Central Securities Depositories. Since going live, the service has been adopted by principal lenders, agent lenders representing UCITS and non-UCITS beneficial owners, and borrowers. The platform currently supports daily notional outstanding loan values of €9 billion and processes over 1,000 settlements per day.

Settlement Infrastructure

Settlement for the new fixed income service will be routed through established central securities depositories and clearing systems based on the instrument’s origin:

Vikesh Patel, Global Head of Clearing and President of Cboe Clear Europe, stated that the addition of fixed income securities is a natural extension of the SFT clearing service. He noted strong demand from the industry for greater capital efficiency and lower risk exposures across asset classes, beyond just equities and ETFs.

Operational Benefits

By moving SFTs from a bilateral to a centrally cleared model, participants can improve balance sheet efficiencies while simplifying post-trade operations such as settlement, reporting, and client onboarding. Jan Treuren, Head of Product at Cboe Clear Europe, highlighted growing participant appetite for a single, globally consistent clearing framework. He emphasized that extending the capital efficiency and operational simplicity benefits delivered in European equities to new asset classes is a major step toward building a leading securities lending clearing ecosystem.

Cboe’s clearing arms, Cboe Clear Europe and Cboe Clear U.S., complement its markets across options, futures, equities, FX, and U.S. Treasuries. While Cboe Clear Europe provides clearing for European cash equities and SFTs, Cboe Clear U.S. currently clears digital asset futures listed on Cboe Futures Exchange and plans further expansions.

What the Numbers Show

The existing SFT platform demonstrates significant scale, with outstanding loan values reaching €9.0 billion on July 31, 2026, and a high watermark of €9.5 billion on May 7, 2026. The expansion into fixed income targets a larger addressable market than equities alone, potentially increasing these volumes substantially. The ability to settle US Treasuries via the Federal Reserve and US corporates via the Depository Trust Company suggests a focus on attracting non-US lenders and borrowers seeking centralized risk management for their dollar-denominated collateral.

Cboe Global Markets Inc. reported a significant expansion in its core derivatives business for July 2026, with multi-listed options average daily trading volume (ADV) rising 28.4% year-over-year to 15,687 thousand contracts. The Chicago-based markets operator also saw index options ADV surge 34.0% to 5,990 thousand contracts, signaling robust investor demand for volatility products and short-term hedging instruments despite a slight month-over-month cooling in overall equity derivatives activity.

The filing highlights a structural shift in trading behavior, particularly within S&P 500 index options. Zero-days-to-expiry (0DTE) contracts accounted for a record 66.2% of total SPX options volume in July, underscoring the growing dominance of intraday speculation and dynamic risk management strategies among market participants. Additionally, Cboe’s mini-SPX (XSP) options set a monthly ADV record of 238 thousand contracts, including a record 0DTE ADV of 138 thousand contracts.

Trading Volume by Segment

The following table details the average daily trading volume across Cboe’s key business lines for July 2026 compared to prior periods:

Note: Futures metrics prior to Q2 2025 exclude Digital futures products, which were transitioned to Cboe Futures Exchange.

Extended Hours and Clearing Milestones

Trading during Cboe’s Global Trading Hours (GTH) session, which runs from 8:15 p.m. to 9:25 a.m. ET, set a monthly ADV record of 224 thousand contracts. This included a record SPX options GTH ADV of 197 thousand contracts, reflecting increased participation outside standard exchange hours. In Europe, Cboe Clear Europe surpassed 1 billion cleared client cash equity trades year-to-date through July 31, with cleared trades ADV rising 20.2% year-over-year to 147,855 thousand.

What the Numbers Show

While multi-listed options volume grew strongly year-over-year, it declined 5.7% from June 2026’s ADV of 16,630 thousand contracts. Similarly, index options ADV fell 5.6% month-over-month. This divergence suggests that July’s year-over-year growth is driven by sustained structural demand rather than accelerating momentum, as trading intensity eased slightly from the previous month. The sharp 47.4% year-over-year rise in off-exchange U.S. equities volume contrasts with a 12.4% decline in on-exchange volume, indicating a continued migration of liquidity to alternative trading systems and dark pools for large block trades.

Cboe Global Markets operates derivatives, equities, and FX markets, providing trading, clearing, and investment solutions globally. The company pioneered landmark products including the VIX Index and S&P 500 index options.