Cboe Global Markets eyes VIX perpetual futures as crypto’s favorite product goes mainstream

Cboe Global Markets is exploring perpetual futures tied to the Cboe Volatility Index, better known as the VIX or Wall Street’s fear gauge. The contracts would have no expiration date, a feature that has made perpetuals the dominant instrument in crypto trading. What Cboe is looking at A perpetual future works like a regular futures contract with the end date removed. Standard VIX futures expire on a set schedule. Anyone who wants to keep long-term volatility exposure has to close an expiring contract and open a new one, a process called rolling. A perpetual skips that chore entirely. Cboe has not published contract specifications, launch dates or regulatory filings for the proposed product. The initiative appears to be in an early, exploratory stage. The pitch, based on Cboe’s direction, is access. A perpetual VIX contract could appeal to participants who can trade CFTC-regulated futures but generally stay away from securities-based products. Two decades of turning fear into a product Cboe launched VIX futures on the Cboe Futures Exchange, or CFE, in 2004. Those contracts are cash-settled against the special opening quotation of the VIX Index. Each standard contract carries a multi...