TradeStation Opens Extended-Hours Cboe Options on 24 Stocks and Five ETFs
Key Facts
TradeStation Europe has made eligible stock options available to clients in the Netherlands and the European Economic Area during extended hours, using sessions launched by Cboe on October 19, 2026. The exchange’s launch covered options on 24 individual stocks and five ETFs, according to Cboe. The sessions allow trading before the U.S. market opens and after it closes, expanding European clients’ access window for U.S. options. The extension applies only to options linked to selected assets; it does not extend trading hours for the stocks or ETFs themselves. The availability is part of a broader update to TradeStation Europe’s options services.
The pre-market session runs from 7:30 a.m. to 9:25 a.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday. The after-hours session starts at 4:00 p.m. and ends at 4:15 p.m., according to Cboe’s schedule. The sessions add two trading windows around regular market hours, with different durations. The available information does not show a single window for trading options throughout the day; the addition is limited to the two specified periods. Eligible instruments remain tied to the list of stocks and ETFs covered by the sessions.
Cboe said options on the names covered accounted for about 53% of average daily U.S. listed options volume through September 2026. In another measure published by the exchange, options on 27 highly liquid underlying assets represented 53.4% of market volume through October 19. The figures indicate that the expansion focuses on a group of actively traded names, rather than the entire options market. This coverage gives TradeStation clients access outside the core session to options linked to widely traded instruments. But historical trading volume alone does not determine the liquidity available in each contract or during each extended-hours window.
TradeStation Europe has also expanded its offering with updates related to single-stock options spreads, intraday trading and lower commissions, according to the company’s announcement. Its official website lists U.S. options at $0.60 per contract, with a minimum of $2 per order. The update thus combines expanded access hours with changes to the options trading offering and its cost. The company recommends using limit orders during extended hours. It also cautions that liquidity is generally lower during those periods, which may lead to wider bid-ask spreads and greater price volatility.
Cboe imposes operational restrictions on options trading linked to individual stocks: it does not open an options class before the underlying security, and it typically halts trading in an options class if trading in the linked asset is halted. These rules tie options trading to the ability to trade the underlying asset. In broader market activity, average options volume was 70.6 million contracts a day in the third quarter of 2026, down 4% from the record level recorded in the second quarter. Average single-stock options volume fell 8% to 32.7 million contracts a day in the third quarter, according to Cboe. The extended-hours expansion comes as volumes in the segment declined from the previous quarter, while options remained part of a broadly active market.
In a separate step as part of plans to expand trading beyond regular hours, Cboe said it plans to launch stock trading on its BZX platform for 23 hours a day, five days a week, on December 6, 2026, subject to industry readiness. That date concerns stock trading on the platform, not the extended options sessions that have already begun. Separately, U.S. real gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 3.4% in the third quarter of 2026, compared with growth of 2.2% in the second quarter. The Bureau of Economic Analysis attributed the increase to investment and consumer and government spending, partly offset by a decline in exports. The agency set November 25, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time, for the second estimate of third-quarter GDP and corporate profits.