Cboe Launches Mini‑Russell 2000 Binary Options within Cboe Predicts

Cboe Global Markets began trading binary options on the Mini‑Russell 2000 Index (MRUT) on 9 November 2026, adding the contracts to its Cboe Predicts prediction markets suite. The contracts, ticker MRTBW, pay $100 or $0 depending on whether MRUT settles at or above the specified level and are centrally cleared through the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC). This launch follows a Cboe Options fee filing effective 1 November that also names binaries on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Cboe Magnificent 10 Index.

Product mechanics and settlement

Each MRTBW contract is a yes‑or‑no index binary that pays $100 if MRUT settles at or above the strike level at P.M. settlement, and $0 if it settles below. Cboe will list P.M.‑settled expiries with same‑day and next‑day expirations. MRUT is described by Cboe as one tenth the size of the Russell 2000, the US small‑cap benchmark; the exchange gave an example where a position predicting MRUT closes above 280 pays $100 if the index settles at 280 or higher, and nothing if it settles below.

The contracts are SEC‑regulated options cleared through the Options Clearing Corporation and sold through “select retail brokers,” a designation Cboe used in its 9 November release without naming any brokers or specifying customer eligibility. Cboe Exchange, Inc., which trades as Cboe Options, lists binaries on broad‑based indexes under Rule 4.16; the exchange’s fee filing defines MRUT binaries as listed on that venue.

Where this sits inside Cboe Predicts and the wider rollout

Cboe introduced the Cboe Predicts suite on 23 June 2026 with binary options on the Mini‑S&P 500 Index (XSP) under the tickers XSPBW and XSPBX. Interactive Brokers offered the XSP binaries at launch; the original Cboe release said Charles Schwab would follow “in the coming months.” The MRUT launch expands the suite to small caps while Cboe says SEC‑regulated corporate earnings metric binaries will be added “soon.”

A separate Cboe Options circular dated 3 November (RC26‑018) noted that Cboe Clear U.S. (CCUS) had published the disclosure document broker‑dealers must give customers authorised to trade KPI binary options. The KPI binaries the SEC approved on 13 October are not yet trading; Cboe has said it would not list those KPI binaries until CCUS was approved.

For the MRUT binaries, a prior report from FX News Group on 5 October cited a Cboe Options notice that set an effective trade date of 26 October; Cboe’s 9 November release gives 9 November as the first day of trading and does not address the earlier date.

Market structure and incentives

Cboe’s fee filing effective 1 November lists additional index binaries — MRUT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJX) and the Cboe Magnificent 10 Index (MGTN) alongside XSP — and waives maker fees to encourage liquidity. The exchange cut the fee for market makers adding liquidity electronically in these binaries from $0.05 a contract to zero, with the filing noting a $0.01 flat fee at a premium of $1.00 or more in other circumstances.

JJ Kinahan, Cboe’s head of retail expansion and alternative investment products, said the Russell 2000 is “traditionally more volatile than other broad measures,” and cited that demand for zero‑days‑to‑expiry options on the Russell has grown. Cboe said its traditional Russell 2000 Index options averaged 85,000 contracts a day in the first three quarters of the year, the only volume figure the release published.

Cboe’s product pitch emphasises the listed‑options wrapper: SEC regulation, OCC clearing and the broker‑dealer rulebook, with the broker deciding customer access. That positioning keeps Cboe separate from off‑exchange event contracts that fall under Commodity Futures Trading Commission or state enforcement scrutiny, but it also ties distribution to the retail brokers Cboe has not named for this launch.

Liquidity and next steps

The exchange has not disclosed retail volumes for its XSP binaries or for MRTBW. The market‑maker fee holiday across four index binaries indicates Cboe is actively seeding liquidity; paying market makers to quote is the standard route to building depth in a new options class. Whether retail order flow follows will depend on the brokers that offer the products and on the volumes those brokers route to Cboe.

Cboe now offers short‑dated yes‑or‑no contracts under securities law across large and small caps, with the exchange describing the wrappers as leveraging "the protections of the U.S. registered securities trading environment." Whether the offerings are characterised by the market as a prediction market business will hinge on volumes and distribution, data Cboe has yet to publish.

For Cboe’s announcements and original filings see the exchange’s 9 November press release and the 1 November fee filing, and the Cboe Options circular published on 3 November. The Cboe Predicts launch in June and the XSP binaries’ earlier rollout remain the product suite’s initial public components./news See regulatory filings

“The Russell 2000 is traditionally more volatile than other broad measures,” said JJ Kinahan, Cboe’s head of retail expansion and alternative investment products.