CBOE wants to list options that expire daily

CBOE Holdings Inc., operator of the largest U.S. options market, asked regulators for permission to become the nation's first to list contracts that expire in as little as one day.

The daily options would be linked to as many as 200 stocks, exchange-traded funds, exchange-traded notes and indexes, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission dated Aug. 24. The contracts may have terms of one, two, three or four days, the owner of the Chicago Board Options Exchange said.

The options will "provide market participants with a tool to hedge overnight and weekend risk, as well as the risk of special events such as earnings announcements and economic reports, and pay a fraction of the premium of a standard or weekly option," CBOE said in the filing, which was posted on the firm's website.

Carol Kennedy, a spokeswoman for the owner of the Chicago Board Options Exchange, wouldn't comment further.

CBOE said yesterday it will list weekly options on the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, or VIX, a benchmark measure of expectations about volatility known as the "fear gauge."