OREANDA-NEWS. The Chicago Board Options Exchange® (CBOE®) today announced that it plans to list options on the FTSE 100 and FTSE China 50 indexes beginning March 29, 2016. The announcement was made by CBOE Holdings CEO Edward Tilly at a press briefing at the 41st annual Futures Industry Association Conference currently taking place in Boca Raton, Florida.

The new FTSE Russell options will enable investors to gain exposure to the largest and most liquid segments of the UK and Chinese equity markets. The options are based on mini versions of the FTSE 100 Index (ticker symbol: UKXM), a market-capitalization weighted index of 100 UK-listed blue chip companies traded on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), and the FTSE China 50 Index (ticker symbol: FXTM), a real-time tradable index comprising 50 of the largest Chinese stocks, traded on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK).

The FTSE 100 Index is commonly used as a performance measure by index-tracking funds and derivatives, and the FTSE China 50 Index was designed specifically for international investors seeking to gain exposure to Chinese equity markets.

The FTSE Russell indexes represent a diverse group of domestic and global equities with international appeal. They are among the largest and most widely used by U.S. investors. In addition, U.S. exchange traded funds (ETFs) tracking FTSE Russell indexes comprise some of the most actively traded ETFs globally. 

The listing of FTSE 100 and FTSE China 50 index options are part of a licensing agreement forged by CBOE and London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) in February 2015. The deal made CBOE the exclusive U.S. provider of options on more than two dozen LSEG-owned FTSE Russell indexes, and also provided for the two companies to collaborate on the development of additional index options products and investor education globally.

Under the agreement, CBOE on April 1, 2015, became the exclusive U.S. home for options on the Russell 2000® Index (ticker symbol: RUT), the widely followed measure of the U.S. small-cap market. On October 20, 2015, CBOE launched options on three Russell large-cap indexes: the Russell 1000® Index (ticker symbol: RUI), the Russell 1000 Value Index (ticker symbol: RLV) and the Russell 1000 Growth Index (ticker symbol: RLG).

About CBOE
CBOE, the largest U.S. options exchange and creator of listed options, continues to set the bar for options and volatility trading through product innovation, trading technology and investor education. CBOE Holdings offers equity, index and ETP options, including proprietary products, such as options and futures on the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX Index) and S&P 500 options (SPX), the most active U.S. index option. Other products engineered by CBOE include equity options, security index options, Weeklys options, FLEX options and benchmark products such as the CBOE S&P 500 BuyWrite Index (BXM).