US options trading hours have expanded, giving investors more time to respond to economic data and company announcements outside the regular session. On October 19, Cboe Global Markets added pre-market and after-hours trading for options on 24 stocks and five exchange-traded funds (ETFs). NYSE American, part of the New York Stock Exchange, introduced similar early and late sessions the same day. The eligible contracts include heavily traded names such as Apple and Nvidia.
Cboe adds two trading windows
The new sessions on Cboe Options Exchange run Monday through Friday, from 7:30 a.m. to 9:25 a.m. Eastern Time and from 4:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. Eligible contracts include options on popular companies such as Apple, Nvidia, Tesla and Amazon, as well as ETFs including SPY, QQQ, IWM, GLD and XLF.
Rob Hocking, Cboe’s global head of derivatives, said adding single-stock and ETF options to extended hours gives investors around the world more flexibility to manage positions and risk in major market assets.
The launch date was postponed twice. Cboe initially planned to start the sessions on July 13, then moved the date to August 17 before rescheduling again for October 19.
Eligible contracts account for 53% of options volume
Cboe said the stocks and ETFs included in the extended-hours program represented about 53% of total US-listed options volume on an average daily basis during the first nine months of 2026. The rollout therefore covers some of the market’s most actively traded contracts, rather than a narrow group of less-traded products.
Cboe says the additional hours are intended to help investors respond to economic releases and company announcements outside regular trading. Moomoo US and TradeStation Securities confirmed that they would provide customer access from launch, while other brokerages are already offering or plan to offer trading in the new sessions.
Access also depends on how an order is designated. Orders marked for “all sessions” can remain active across different trading windows; orders restricted to regular hours will not execute during the added sessions. Only limit orders are accepted. Market, stop and stop-limit orders are not available.
The 4:00 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. window primarily extends trading for single-stock options. Eligible ETF options already traded until 4:15 p.m., which remains part of their regular session. The new morning window, by contrast, creates pre-market trading access for both stock and ETF options.
NYSE American launches matching hours
NYSE American’s early and late sessions, also launched on October 19, use the same trading hours as Cboe’s. Its initial list includes options on SPY, IWM and GLD, along with stock options on large technology companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, Alphabet, Amazon and Oracle.
Kevin Tyrrell, chief product officer at the New York Stock Exchange, said the extended hours reflect demand for longer trading windows, more opportunities to trade and additional risk-management tools. Pre-market and after-hours options can give investors a chance to adjust positions before the regular open or after the close, though the new sessions remain subject to limits on order types and liquidity.
Cboe already offers near-round-the-clock weekday trading for some of its index options. The new sessions for stock and ETF options are shorter, and eligible products will be reviewed every six months, with additions or removals announced in advance. For now, both exchanges are focusing on highly traded stock and ETF options, extending the time investors can respond to market information outside regular hours.