What is the Cboe Australia (formerly Chi-X)?

The Cboe is an exchange in Australia that acts as an alternative trading venue to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). Learn how to trade on the Cboe here.

What is the Chi-X Australia (Cboe)?

The Chi-X is the former name for the Cboe, a stock exchange based in Sydney Australia. It offers an alternative venue to buy and sell Australian stocks, with a few notable differences to the better-known ASX.

• The Cboe is a day-only trading venue, which means orders cannot be left open overnight. This can make trading faster as there is less of a backlog of orders
• Some ETFs on the Cboe aren’t available on the ASX
• There are no opening and closing auctions on the Cboe

The Chi-X was founded in 2011, and changed its name to the Cboe in 2021 when it was bought by Cboe Global Markets, the company behind the Chicago Board Options Exchange.

The Cboe vs the ASX

The Cboe offers access to exactly the same stocks as the ASX – it just offers a different place to buy and sell them. If your broker allowed it, you could even buy a share on the Cboe and sell it on the ASX.

Roughly 20% of Australian shares volume occurs on the Cboe, compared to 80% on the ASX.

How to trade on the Cboe

To trade on the Cboe, you follow the exact same process as trading on the ASX:

1. You place an order with your stockbroker
2. The broker executes the order on the Cboe
3. You own the stocks as part of your portfolio

With City Index, you can trade Australian stocks via CFDs, which enable you to speculate on price action without owning the shares themselves. This brings several benefits to traders, including:

• Going long or short. As you don’t own the stock, you can short a company if you think its value is set to fall
• Leverage. With CFDs, you don’t have to pay the full value of your position upfront
• Access to 1,000s of markets. Alongside shares, you can trade CFDs on FX, indices, commodities and more

You just need a City Index account to get started. Or if you want to see how CFD trading works without risking any capital, you can try a trading demo – this gives you access to all the same markets, with virtual funds to trade them risk free.

Please note that our Australian stocks are priced from the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), not the Cboe.

The Cboe 200

Like the ASX, the Cboe has a stock index that tracks the value of the top 200 Australian stocks. It is called the Cboe 200, and should move in step with the ASX 200 (Australia 200). Both indices represent around 80% of the Australian stock market and operate on a free-float basis.

CBOE FAQs

Who owns the Cboe?

The Cboe is owned by Cboe Global Markets, the owner and operator of both the Chicago Board Options Exchange and BATS group of exchanges. It has owned the Cboe Australia since buying it from Chi-X Asia Pacific in June 2021.

What does the Cboe do?

The Cboe provides an alternative stock exchange to the ASX in Australia. It operates in a slightly different way to the ASX, helping ensure that orders are executed as soon as possible.

What does Cboe stand for?

Cboe stands for Chicago Board Options Exchange. When Cboe Global Markets – owner of the CBOE – bought the Chi-X in 2021, it renamed it the Cboe.

When does the Cboe open?

The Cboe opens at 10:00am (AEST), the same time as the ASX. However, it closes slightly later – at 16:13 instead of 16:00. See the full stock market hours for Australia.