SEC Clears Cboe KPI Options, with Robinhood Set for Retail Launch

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has approved Cboe’s proposal for listing binary options tied to corporate performance indicators.

The platform submitted the proposed rule change to permit listing of binary options overlaying key performance indicators reported by selected stock issues in July 2026.

Once launched, the contracts would let investors trade on reported business metrics rather than on how a company’s share price reacts to them. Robinhood plans to be the first retail broker to offer the contracts.

Trading has not begun, and a separate application to clear the products remains pending.

Performance Metrics Become Tradable

The contracts will settle according to whether a company reports a particular key performance indicator above or below a predefined threshold.

The approved list contains over 100 metrics across 23 companies, including Apple’s iPhone revenue, Nvidia’s>An investor could correctly forecast a company’s revenue but still lose money on a conventional stock option if the share price moved in the opposite direction for another reason. The new type of contracts give traders a more direct position on an earnings outcome.

Cboe’s products will be cash-settled, European-style options, meaning they can be exercised only at expiration. A successful contract will pay a fixed $1, while an unsuccessful one will expire without a payout.

Settlement will use the metric in the company’s relevant SEC filing, rather than an earlier earnings press release. Cboe can decide which contracts to list and set several thresholds around the most recently reported value.

A Securities-Market Route to Prediction Trading

The product takes a different regulatory route from event contracts offered through platforms such as Kalshi. Those markets operate on Commodity Futures Trading Commission-regulated exchanges, while Cboe’s KPI contracts will be securities listed on an SEC-regulated options exchange.

For retail brokers, that creates a way to offer prediction-style contracts under securities-options rules rather than through a separate prediction markets exchange.

Cboe and Robinhood had targeted an October launch, though the exact date has not been disclosed. Cboe plans to waive its exchange fees on the contracts through 2026, subject to regulatory review; Robinhood says it won't charge fees through year-end.

Before the trading starts, Cboe Clear U.S. needs to obtain temporary registration to clear the contracts.

Earlier this year the exchange launched Cboe Predicts, binary options on the Mini-S&P 500. The new contracts are listed under symbols XSPBW and XSPBX and allow traders take a "yes" or "no" position on whether XSP will close at or above a specified level.