Cboe Updates Fees for Traders and Floor Brokers Immediately
Published Date: 4/21/2026
Notice
Summary
Cboe Exchange is updating its fee schedule for traders and floor brokers, changing costs for transactions, permits, and special trading surcharges. These changes affect anyone using the floor or trading SPX, VIX, and SPXW options, with some new fees and discounts kicking in right away. If you trade or work on the Cboe floor, expect some new charges and perks starting April 2026.
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Analyzed Economic Effects
8 provisions identified: 3 benefits, 4 costs, 1 mixed.
Big Cut to Floor Broker Permit Fees
If you hold a Floor Broker trading permit on Cboe, the Exchange replaces the prior sliding-scale permit fees with a flat fee of $750 per Floor Broker Permit starting April 1, 2026. The previous structure charged $7,500 for the first permit, $5,700 for the 2nd–3rd, $4,500 for the 4th–5th, and $3,200 for each additional permit.
SPX & VIX Floor Surcharge Thresholds and Tiers
Cboe lowers the monthly trigger for SPX (including SPXW) and VIX Floor Broker surcharges from more than 20,000 contracts to more than 1,000 contracts per month, effective April 1, 2026. The Exchange also creates tiered monthly fees by number of FB Permits — for SPX/SPXW, a single-permit holder who executes ≥1,000 contracts pays $7,500/month (tiers down to $2,000 for >10 permits); for VIX, a single-permit holder pays $3,000/month (tiers down to $2,000 for >5 permits).
Market-Maker Tier Appointment Fee Increases
Effective April 1, 2026, the Exchange raises Market-Maker Tier Appointment fees: the VIX Tier Appointment increases from $2,000/month to $2,500/month and the RUT (RUT/RUT-equivalent) Tier Appointment increases from $1,000/month to $1,500/month. These amounts apply to both Market-Maker Floor Permits and Market-Maker Electronic Access Permits when the contract thresholds (≥1,000 contracts) are met.
New SPXW Excessive Complex Creation Charges
Cboe adopts an SPXW Excessive Complex Instrument Creation Charge effective April 1, 2026: a TPH must exceed 20,000 complex instrument creations in SPXW before fees apply, and the fee is calculated daily (Daily Charge × Daily Multiplier based on the ratio of SPXW complex instruments traded to created). Charges apply during all trading sessions and are aggregated across affiliates.
ADV Discount Now Covers Surcharges
Starting April 1, 2026, Floor Broker ADV discounts (0% for 0–99,999 ADV; 15% for 100,000–174,999 ADV; 25% for >174,999 ADV) will apply not only to Floor Broker Permit fees but also to SPX and VIX Floor Broker Trading Surcharges. The underlying ADV tiers remain the same but now reduce both permit and surcharge costs.
Broad Transaction Fee Rewrites Across Several Products
Effective April 1, 2026, Cboe changes per-contract fees and rebates across multiple option products: it applies XSP fee codes (e.g., customer rebate $0.30 per contract for orders <10 contracts; fee $0.07 for ≥10) to MRUT and DJX; adopts new fee codes for SPESG and SPEQX (e.g., Customer fee $0.10, Market-Maker manual $0.15, rebates and $0.50 remove-liquidity fees); and establishes per-contract fees for CBTX and MBTX (e.g., CBTX non-customer manual $1.00/contract, MBTX non-customer manual $0.50/contract).
Removal of Certain LMM Incentive Programs
As of April 1, 2026, the Exchange eliminates several Lead Market-Maker (LMM) Incentive Programs (including MRUT, RTH SPESG, RTH MBTX/MBTXW, RTH CBTX/CBTXW, and RTH SPEQX programs), removing the associated monthly rebates that eligible LMMs could earn by meeting quoting standards.
New Floor Jacket Stipends for Badge Holders
Cboe will provide a $275 stipend for new trading floor jackets every three years and a $100 stipend for jacket cleaning annually. Initial stipends will be provided to all active floor badge holders as of April 1, 2026, with subsequent payments following the stated schedules.
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