The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) announced today that it has received regulatory approval to launch a new electronic system for trading index and equity FLexible EXchange (FLEX) options.
The new system, CFLEX, is the first Internet-based, fully automated electronic trading system in the U.S. marketplace for the trading of FLEX options, which are customizable options contracts. The system also offers the benefits of a hybrid trading environment. CBOE received final regulatory approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday, November 16 and the new system is expected to be available beginning tomorrow, Tuesday, November 20.
CFLEX will offer complete anonymity, with a combination of orders and request for quotes (RFQs), and guaranteed participation rights and order books; thereby enabling brokers, liquidity providers, and their customers to negotiate trades securely over the Internet. The CFLEX system will dramatically reduce the time required to execute a FLEX trade, and make the process far less complex. The CFLEX system is built on Stockholm-based Cinnober Financial Technology's platform. By offering this new trading interface, CBOE expects to attract a significant segment of the OTC market activity to its system by providing the ability to trade FLEX options electronically.
"CBOE created the concept of FLEX options in 1993, and with the launch of this new system, will take FLEX option trading to a whole new level by introducing the first Internet-based, fully-automated, electronic FLEX options trading system in the U.S.," said CBOE Chairman and CEO William J. Brodsky. "This revolutionary system will offer FLEX users a host of benefits, including significantly reducing costs, point-and-click execution, and virtual elimination of counterparty risk."
FLEX options are customized index or equity option contracts that provide investors with the ability to customize key contract terms including strike prices, exercise styles and expiration dates of up to ten years from the trade date; with the transparency, administrative ease and clearing guarantees of standard listed options. It is expected that nearly all of the index and equity (including exchange traded fund (ETF)) options products listed on the CBOE will be available for trading on the CFLEX trading system. CBOE created index FLEX options in 1993 and equity FLEX options in 1996.