As Executive Vice President and Global Head of Derivatives at Cboe Global Markets, Catherine Clay leads a dynamic and far-reaching strategy across the Exchange’s global options and futures businesses. By uniting innovation, education, data, and execution under one umbrella, Clay is helping scale Cboe’s capabilities across regions while expanding access to its products and expertise. In this interview with Traders Magazine, she shares insights into her leadership journey, the evolving trends in derivatives, the growing role of crypto products, and how she’s working to shape a more inclusive future in finance.
Can you share some insights into your role as Global Head of Derivatives at Cboe, and how you oversee both the options and futures businesses?
I lead Cboe’s global derivatives business, spanning our options and futures markets across the U.S., Europe and Asia-Pacific. This includes oversight of Cboe Labs, our product innovation hub, and the Options Institute, our center for education. By bringing sales, product development and client education under one unified team, we’re able to scale ideas across regions, strengthen customer relationships and grow strategic partnerships. Just as importantly, this structure lets us “export” and “import” trading opportunities – bringing the full power of Cboe’s global ecosystem to our clients. Recently, my role was expanded to include oversight of Cboe Data Vantage – a business that encompasses data and access, analytics and execution, and indices – all of which are closely connected to our global derivatives franchise.
My focus is on global expansion: bringing Cboe’s 50+ years of U.S. derivatives expertise, along with our data, products and services to new markets and customers around the world. In Europe, we’ve built Cboe Europe Derivatives (CEDX) from our U.S. market blueprint and are now ramping up investor education. In APAC, we’re working with regional retail brokers to begin delivering our market data, products and education to their customers.
What trends are you currently seeing in the derivatives market, particularly in options and futures, and how do you see these evolving over the next few years?
I expect we’ll see continued adoption of options trading, particularly by retail investors who are becoming more sophisticated and engaged. There’s significant untapped potential for greater adoption not only within the U.S. but also internationally. We should see continued expansion in market access and greater product innovation to offer options exposure through simpler, more approachable wrappers, such as defined-outcome ETFs.
Another trend is the rising popularity of short-dated index options. These have become a go-to risk management tool for many traders, offering the precision of short duration with the simplicity of cash-settlement. Positions are closed at the end of the day and settled in cash – no share delivery, and no overnight exposure risks. These options are used for a diverse range of trading strategies, allowing traders to react to fast-moving markets where the flow of information is constant. Short-dated index options have proven their utility throughout different market conditions, and I expect their appeal will only grow.
With the rise of alternative asset classes and digital assets, how do you foresee the integration of cryptocurrency derivatives into traditional markets?
Institutional adoption of crypto is still in its early days, but momentum is building as more investors grow comfortable with this asset class, buoyed by a more positive regulatory outlook. At Cboe, we’re ready to meet this demand. We’ve already introduced several crypto derivatives products – such as our cash-settled Cboe Bitcoin ETF Index Options, Cboe FTSE Bitcoin Index Futures, and financially settled margined bitcoin and ether futures – which aim to bring crypto exposure to investors who may be more familiar with listed derivatives.
All the traditional use cases of derivatives – hedging risk, directional trading on price movements, income generation, and portfolio diversification – can now be deployed in Bitcoin via these regulated, exchange-listed, centrally cleared products. Many issuers are also using our Bitcoin index options in defined-outcome ETFs, so we’ve built an ecosystem that is starting to feed itself. I think we’ll only see innovation in this space accelerate, and the continued maturation and adoption of crypto as a result.
Cboe has been a leader in creating innovative market structures. Can you talk about any upcoming initiatives or innovations that you’re excited about in the derivatives space?
The move towards 24×5 trading in U.S. equities has been a major story in the financial markets and reflects growing global interest in the U.S. markets. Cboe already offers nearly 24×5 trading in SPX options, VIX options and VIX futures across regular U.S. hours and our Global Trading Hours (GTH). We are continually looking to satisfy demand from international customers who increasingly want to trade U.S. products during their local time zones.
Futures is another area where we’ve really seen the industry’s pace of innovation accelerate, and this could bring a new wave of opportunity for investors and exchanges alike. Cboe Futures Exchange (CFE) has a long-standing track record as the home of VIX futures. Today, it lists a diverse suite of equity volatility and crypto futures. We also have a thriving iBoxx credit futures ecosystem, offering high-yield, investment-grade and EM debt exposures, as well as options listed on some of those futures. Following the launch of SPX variance futures and options on VIX Futures last year, we plan to list additional new futures based on market and customer needs. We’re also focused on further strengthening the CFE ecosystem, with FCMs and liquidity providers critical to supporting our deep and liquid markets.
How do you approach managing risk and ensuring liquidity in the derivatives markets, especially in such a dynamic environment?
Amid April’s spikes in volatility and record-breaking volumes and message traffic, exchanges continued to deliver resilient and well-functioning markets, enabling investors to efficiently transfer risk. It’s a testament to the industry’s ongoing investment in capacity planning, testing and business continuity. At Cboe, we have long prioritized technology, operations and risk management, constantly refining our systems, upgrading infrastructure and preparing for the unexpected.
When markets are volatile, our open-outcry trading floor in Chicago also stands out as a differentiator. The Cboe trading floor is an important source of critical liquidity that our customers can depend on. Especially if markets go wide, the floor is an easy mechanism for price discovery that may not be readily displayed on-screen. Across all our markets, we’ll continue to take a thoughtful approach to market structure to enhance liquidity and transparency.
Looking back on your career so far, is there a defining moment or decision that shaped your leadership style or opened the door to your current role?
I began my career as a clerk in Interactive Brokers’ market-making unit, Timber Hill, and progressed to Lead Market Maker and Director of Floor Trading and Operations. A pivotal moment in my career came in 2006, when I decided to leave Timber Hill to co-found Thales LLC, a market-making firm. Starting my own company challenged me to step out of my comfort zone and embrace entrepreneurship. It taught me the importance of taking calculated risks and trusting my instincts. This experience not only broadened my perspective but also honed my leadership skills, preparing me for future roles, including my position as CEO of Livevol. Cboe would later acquire Livevol in 2015 – eventually paving the way for the role that I hold today.
What advice would you give to women navigating male-dominated areas of finance and technology?
As a market maker on the NYSE Arca trading floor, only 12 out of approximately 500 traders were women. In the open outcry environment of the trading pits, I needed to make my voice heard if I wanted to succeed, and I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to out-shout my fellow traders. What I quickly realized, however, was that my voice was far different from all the men’s voices, and it helped me stand out. I still needed to be loud, I still needed to know what I was doing and be good at my job, but by bringing something different to the table, I could capitalize and deliver on my strengths. To succeed, women not only need to know how to collaborate, but also how to be competitive – and part of that is leaning into what makes you unique and different.
Do you think the visibility of women in senior roles like yours is changing perceptions or shifting the culture within the finance industry?
Representation matters, not just for optics, but because it changes how decisions are made and how corporate culture evolves. When women hold senior roles, it sends a powerful message that leadership can look like many things. But visibility alone isn’t enough. There needs to be real action: mentoring the next generation, advocating for other women when they’re not in the room, finding ways to push new ideas forward, and challenging assumptions about what leadership is.
I’ve been in this industry long enough to see meaningful progress, but also to know that change doesn’t happen passively. It takes persistence, boldness and people who are willing to shake things up – and I’m incredibly honored to be one of the women in our industry, who is playing a part in these efforts.
