World's First Pre-Market US Options Trading Launches
Longbridge Securities has launched what it calls the world’s first platform for pre-market U.S. options trading. The move is designed to help investors, particularly those outside U.S. time zones, react to overnight news and get ahead of market movements before the official open.
The new pre-market options trading window from Longbridge runs from 4:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Eastern Time, which corresponds to 5:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. in Singapore. This timing is designed to give international investors, particularly in Asia, a chance to trade on overnight news and earnings reports before the U.S. market's regular session begins. This initiative by Longbridge Securities aims to democratize access to extended trading hours, which have historically been the domain of institutional investors. The initial launch includes options on highly liquid ETFs like SPY and QQQ, alongside popular stocks such as Apple, Tesla, Nvidia, and Amazon. To attract users, the company is waiving commission and platform fees for pre-market options trading during the introductory phase. The move taps into a significant surge in retail options trading across Asia, a trend fueled by rising wealth and the proliferation of mobile trading platforms. Data shows that 50% of CME's global retail book is now in the Asia Pacific region, and in India, the number of derivatives traders has grown from under 500,000 to over 4 million since the pandemic. While Longbridge claims a "world's first" for broad pre-market U.S. options, other exchanges have been expanding trading hours for specific products. Cboe Global Markets, for instance, already offers nearly 24-hour, five-days-a-week trading for options on major indexes like the S&P 500 (SPX), Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), and the Russell 2000 (RUT).
