Overview
- Citing a Wall Street Journal report published June 19, multiple outlets say Charles Schwab is working with Cboe Global Markets to make binary, all‑or‑nothing options tied to the S&P 500 available to customers in the coming months.
- The contracts would pay a fixed cash settlement if the index closes above or below a set level and otherwise expire worthless, and Schwab and Cboe have discussed a Cboe “Plus Zone” feature that gives partial payouts for close calls.
- Schwab reportedly plans to limit these contracts to objectively verifiable financial outcomes and not offer markets tied to politics, sports or entertainment.
- Any rollout remains unannounced and contingent on product design and regulatory review, with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and members of Congress already scrutinizing event‑style contracts.
- The move follows Schwab’s recent expansion into spot crypto services and mirrors launches by Coinbase, Robinhood and other brokers, a shift that could broaden retail access to prediction‑style trading and reshape liquidity and compliance for exchanges.