Schwab to Offer S&P 500 Binary Options via Cboe
Charles Schwab will offer cash-settled binary options tied to the S&P 500 through a partnership with Cboe, built on regulated options infrastructure and limited to financial benchmarks.
People familiar with the matter say Charles Schwab has partnered with Cboe Global Markets to list cash-settled binary options tied to the S&P 500. The contracts will pay a fixed amount if the index closes on the chosen side of a strike price and expire worthless if it does not. The product will use existing regulated options infrastructure and is expected to reach Schwab customers within months.
Each contract will let a customer select a strike and wager on whether the S&P 500 will finish above or below that level. A correct outcome delivers a predetermined payout; an incorrect outcome yields no payout. Schwab and Cboe are exploring Cboe’s Plus Zone feature, which can provide partial payouts when results fall close to the strike. Cboe already lists Mini S&P 500 Index Binary Options that settle for either $100 or $0.
Schwab plans to limit the offering to objectively verifiable financial benchmarks, beginning with the S&P 500, and has ruled out contracts tied to sports, politics or pop culture. Trades will remain inside customers’ brokerage accounts and follow standard exchange rules and clearing processes rather than running on a standalone prediction platform.
In December 2025, CEO Rick Wurster warned the firm would avoid prediction markets and complex leveraged products because of concerns about blurring investing and gambling and the message that could send to younger investors. By April 2026 he described the company as “taking a hard look” at prediction markets tied to financial events while excluding nonfinancial contracts.
As of the first quarter of 2026 Schwab managed about $11.8 trillion in client assets across roughly 47.2 million accounts. Specialist prediction platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket have recorded rapid volume growth in recent years, and several brokerages have expanded access to event contracts through partnerships or new features.
Contracts are expected to be available to Schwab customers in the coming months. Schwab and Cboe will announce contract sizes, pricing and customer eligibility when listings are finalized on Cboe.
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