Derivatives and securities exchange network Cboe Global Markets, Inc and Metaurus Advisors, LLC, an asset management company focusing on financial innovation, today announced their collaboration on the Cboe U.S. Large-Mid Cap 100 Index (CEQX).
The CEQX Index, which launched on December 20, 2024, is the first of four indices jointly developed by Cboe and Metaurus.
The CEQX Index is designed to be an equal-dollar-weighted index comprised of 100 large-mid cap U.S. stocks, rebalanced quarterly, that replicates the sector capitalization weightings of the largest companies listed on U.S. exchanges.
Following the launch of the CEQX Index, Cboe and Metaurus plan for the introduction of three additional indices – the Cboe Lead 50 Index, the Cboe Lag 50 Index and the Cboe U.S. Large-Mid Cap 100 Cumulative Return Index – in the first quarter of 2025.
“The launch of the Cboe U.S. Large-Mid Cap 100 Index marks an exciting step forward in Cboe’s efforts to making dispersion trading more accessible,” said Rob Hocking, Global Head of Product Innovation at Cboe. “We believe CEQX will not only be a reliable gauge of U.S. large- and mid-cap stock performance, but importantly, also serves as the foundation for additional indices we’re developing. Dispersion trading has seen growing interest from market participants seeking to capitalize on differences in implied volatility between index options and individual stock options, and we couldn’t be more excited to continue to deliver the tools that traders need to unlock new opportunities in this market.”
Derived from the CEQX Index, the Cboe Lead 50 and Cboe Lag 50 indices are expected to be equal-dollar-weighted and designed to measure the total returns of the top 50 and bottom 50 performing companies, respectively, within the Cboe U.S. Large-Mid Cap 100 Index on a quarterly basis. Investors who track the varying quarterly returns of the Cboe Lead 50 and the Cboe Lag 50 indices may gain insight into realized dispersion, a measure of independent movement observed in the components of a diversified portfolio.
“CEQX will serve as the foundational index for the Cboe Lead 50 and Lag 50 indices, providing the market a new and innovative way to gauge realized dispersion,” said Richard Sandulli, Co-CEO of Metaurus. “The relationships between these new indices, along with the planned futures on the Lead/Lag 50 indices, are designed to be simple and intuitive, and mark a steppingstone towards the securitization of new groupings of financial assets.”
The CEQX Index is administered by Cboe Global Indices, a leading derivatives-based index provider, and adds to Cboe’s growing list of innovative index offerings including its suite of volatility indices and its new Cboe Bitcoin U.S. ETF Index. The daily value of the CEQX Index and other indices can be found on the Cboe Global Indices Feed.
Cboe Labs, Cboe’s product innovation arm, plans to launch tradable futures products based on the Cboe Lead 50 and the Cboe Lag 50 indices. The futures are planned to be listed on Cboe Futures Exchange, subject to regulatory review.
