--- ticker: CBOE company: CBOE filing_type: 10-K year_current: 2026 year_prior: 2025 risks_added: 1 risks_removed: 3 risks_modified: 3 risks_unchanged: 33 source: SEC EDGAR url: https://riskdiff.com/cboe/2026-vs-2025/ markdown_url: https://riskdiff.com/cboe/2026-vs-2025/index.md generated: 2026-06-01 --- # CBOE: 10-K Risk Factor Changes 2026 vs 2025 > Source: U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR) > Generated: 2026-06-01 > All data extracted directly from official filings. No hallucinated content. ## Summary | Status | Count | |--------|-------| | New risks added | 1 | | Risks removed | 3 | | Risks modified | 3 | | Unchanged | 33 | --- ## New in Current Filing: Global trade policies, including the assessment of tariffs and other impositions on imported goods, may have a material adverse impact on our business. Countries have announced new or increased tariffs on imported goods and that additional tariffs or increases in tariffs could be assessed in the future. If any such tariffs were to increase the costs of the products and services we use in our business, in particular the technology, communications, cloud, computer, and networking products and services that we use, and we were unable to mitigate the impacts of any such increased costs, it could have a material adverse impact on our business and our results of operations. --- ## No Match in Current: Our decision to wind down the Cboe Digital spot crypto market may negatively impact our digital asset business. *This section from the 2025 filing does not have a high-confidence textual match in 2026. It may have been removed, merged, or substantially reworded.* In April 2024, we announced plans to wind down the spot crypto market offered by Cboe Digital and transition the cash-settled margin Bitcoin and Ether futures contracts currently listed on Cboe Digital Exchange to CFE, pending regulatory review. On May 31, 2024, we halted all trading on the Cboe Digital spot market. The Cboe Digital spot market is closed for all participant and trading purposes. The Company expects to maintain the derivatives clearing services currently operated by Cboe Clear U.S., integrating these functions and teams into the existing organizational structure. The Company has brought Cboe Clear U.S. under unified leadership with the Global Head of Clearing. In connection with shutting down the spot crypto exchange, the Company also determined to unwind the minority ownership structure in Cboe Digital. Our decision to wind down the Cboe Digital spot crypto market may adversely impact our ability to develop new products based on digital assets, including the development and distribution of digital asset indices for potential use in exchange traded products and other derivative product opportunities. The wind down could impact our reputation within the digital asset industry and negatively impact the demand for our Bitcoin and Ether futures contracts. We expect competition to increase as existing and new competitors introduce new products or enhance existing products and the wind down of the spot crypto market may impact how market participants perceive us. In addition, we may not be able to successfully transition Cboe Digital Exchange's cash-settled margin Bitcoin and Ether futures contracts to CFE and integrate the clearing services currently operated by Cboe Clear U.S. into the existing organizational structure. --- ## No Match in Current: Cboe Digital's clearinghouse operations are exposed to risks, including credit, liquidity, market and other risks related to the potential defaults of clearing members and other counterparties. *This section from the 2025 filing does not have a high-confidence textual match in 2026. It may have been removed, merged, or substantially reworded.* Cboe Digital is subject to risks related to operating its clearinghouse, Cboe Clear U.S., which is a derivatives clearing organization ("DCO") registered with the CFTC. Risks associated with the operation of Cboe Clear U.S. include failing to meet strict business continuity and financial resources requirements and regulatory oversight, risks of default by clearing members and counterparties due to bankruptcy, lack of liquidity, operational failure or other reasons. Trading in Bitcoin and Ether futures with margin treatment began in January 2024 and we could experience losses in excess of the collateral, which may have an adverse effect on our business, if a clearing participant defaults on its obligations to our clearinghouse, and its margin and its guaranty fund deposits are insufficient to meet its obligations. --- ## No Match in Current: BIDS Trading's ability to operate under its current regulatory framework is dependent upon the sufficiency of a novel operational and governance framework we have developed to govern our relationship with BIDS Trading and our ability to comply with such framework and if we fail to adhere to such framework or the BIDS Trading ATS is otherwise deemed a "facility" of our registered national securities exchanges, our business, financial condition, and operating results may be adversely affected. *This section from the 2025 filing does not have a high-confidence textual match in 2026. It may have been removed, merged, or substantially reworded.* The U.S. equities ATS operated by BIDS Trading is regulated as a broker-dealer sponsored alternative trading system and not a registered national securities exchange. Because we acquired BIDS Trading, it is now under common ownership with our registered national securities exchanges that, in some cases, offer trading in the same securities as those traded on the BIDS Trading ATS. Absent sufficient separation, this common ownership of an ATS and registered national securities exchanges offering trading in the same securities presents the potential for the BIDS Trading ATS to be deemed a "facility" of our registered national securities exchanges. If the BIDS Trading ATS were to be deemed to be a "facility" of our registered national securities exchanges, certain exchange regulations could be extended to the BIDS Trading ATS, which could have a material adverse impact on BIDS Trading's business model. This could reduce the BIDS Trading ATS' competitiveness and volumes and could result in a reduction of the value of the BIDS Trading ATS to us. This could also potentially result in fines or other penalties being assessed against us for our failure to operate the BIDS Trading ATS as a "facility," which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results. To mitigate the risk that the BIDS Trading ATS is deemed a "facility" of our registered national securities exchanges, we have developed and implemented an operational and governance framework for our ownership of BIDS Trading that is intended to preserve the strategic, technological, business, and operational independence of the BIDS Trading ATS from our registered national securities exchange businesses, such that the BIDS Trading ATS and our registered national securities exchanges would not be deemed to be integrated or otherwise linked for "facility" purposes. This framework is supported by highly detailed policies, procedures and controls. However, because of the lack of precedent for common ownership of an ATS and registered national security exchanges offering trading in the same securities, there is risk that our framework and supporting policies, procedures and controls could be deemed to be insufficient to prevent the BIDS Trading ATS from being deemed to be a "facility" of our registered national securities exchanges. In addition, because of the comprehensive and highly detailed nature of our framework and supporting policies, procedures and controls, there is risk that we could inadvertently fail to fully adhere to our operational and governance framework and related policies, procedures and controls. There is also risk that new legislation or regulation, or changes in existing regulation or other government action, relating to "facilities" of registered national securities exchanges and/or the common ownership of an ATS and registered national securities exchanges offering trading in the same securities could materially affect our ability to own and operate the BIDS Trading ATS under the current operational and governance framework, including without the BIDS Trading ATS being deemed a "facility" of our registered national securities exchanges. Occurrence of any of the risks described in this paragraph could result in the BIDS Trading ATS being deemed to be a "facility" of our registered national securities exchanges, which could reduce the BIDS Trading ATS' competitiveness and volumes and could result in a reduction of the value of the BIDS Trading ATS to us, and could also potentially result in fines or other penalties being assessed against us for our failure to operate the BIDS Trading ATS as a "facility," which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results. 44 44 44 Table of Contents Table of Contents --- ## Modified: Our clearinghouse operations expose us to associated risks, including credit, liquidity, market and other risks related to the defaults of clearing members and other counterparties, and risks related to investing of collateral. **Key changes:** - Reworded sentence: "We are subject to risks related to operating our European clearinghouse, Cboe Clear Europe, and our U.S." - Reworded sentence: "To mitigate the credit risks related to defaults of clearing members and other counterparties, including the market risk that we would only be able to close out a defaulting participant's positions at a loss, there are minimum participation criteria to become a clearing member and clearing members are required to provide collateral to cover the margin requirement and default fund contributions and, in the case of certain clearing members with SFT without margin or default fund obligations, to grant Cboe Clear Europe title to or security over certain assets covering their obligations." **Prior (2025):** We are subject to risks related to operating our European clearinghouse, Cboe Clear Europe, and Cboe Clear U.S., the clearinghouse through which we facilitate the clearing of cash-settled margin Bitcoin and Ether futures, including the risks of failing to meet strict business continuity requirements and regulatory oversight, risks of default by clearing participants and counterparties, due to bankruptcy, lack of liquidity, operational failure or other reasons, the risks associated with the adequacy of participants' margin, default and interoperable funds, and risks related to investing of such funds. These risks could subject our business to substantial losses, reputational harm, regulatory consequences, including litigation, fines and enforcement actions, and the inability to operate our business. To mitigate the credit risks related to defaults of clearing participants and other counterparties, including the market risk that we would only be able to close out a defaulting participant's positions at a loss, there are minimum participation criteria to become a clearing participant and clearing participants are required to provide collateral to cover the margin requirement and default fund contributions and in the case of certain clearing participants with SFT without margin or default fund obligations, to grant Cboe Clear Europe title to or security over certain assets covering their obligations. Furthermore, Cboe Clear Europe interoperates with two central counterparties and requires its applicable participants to make deposits to an interoperable fund, which are pledged to the interoperable central counterparties. No guarantee can be given that the collateral or other assets provided will at all times be sufficient, maintain its value, or provide absolute assurance against us experiencing financial losses from defaults by the participants or counterparties on their obligations. In addition, although such collateral is preferably held in European central banks, Cboe Clear Europe also holds collateral in central securities depositories, in particular in the case of other assets for SFT, and commercial banks, which can expose us to risk of default by those institutions, and invests cash collateral in accordance with its investment policy, such as in securities issued by pre-approved sovereign issuers and reverse repurchase agreements with overnight maturities, which expose us to risk of counterparty default which may result in losses and cause its clearing participants to lose confidence in our clearinghouse. Cboe Clear Europe entered into a €1.20 billion committed syndicated multicurrency revolving and swingline credit facility that is available to be drawn by Cboe Clear Europe towards (a) financing unsettled amounts in connection with the settlement of transactions in securities and other items processed through Cboe Clear Europe's clearing system and (b) financing any other liability or liquidity requirement of Cboe Clear Europe incurred in the operation of its clearing system, however we can give no assurance that this facility will be sufficient to meet all such obligations or sufficiently mitigate Cboe Clear Europe's liquidity risk to meet its payment obligations when due. Substantial amounts of the collateral, and any amounts drawn under this facility, may be at risk if a clearing participant defaults on its obligations to our clearinghouse and its margin, default and interoperability fund deposits are insufficient to meet its obligations. This facility is expected to terminate on June 27, 2025 and we may not be able to enter into a replacement facility on commercially favorable terms, or at all. Additionally, investment losses in excess of capital set aside by Cboe Clear Europe for counterparty risk are allocated back to clearing participants. We cannot assure you that the mitigating measures, policies, safeguards and risk management procedures will be sufficient to detect problems or to protect us from a default or that we will not be materially and adversely affected in the event of a significant default. **Current (2026):** We are subject to risks related to operating our European clearinghouse, Cboe Clear Europe, and our U.S. clearinghouse, Cboe Clear U.S. Cboe Clear U.S. facilitates the clearing of financially-settled and continuous Bitcoin and Ether futures listed on CFE and may facilitate the clearing of other product classifications in the future. Cboe Clear Europe clears transactions executed on third-party exchanges and Cboe Clear U.S. may similarly clear transactions executed on third-party exchanges in the future. Operating such clearinghouses subjects us to, among other risks, the risks of failing to meet strict business continuity and financial resources requirements and regulatory oversight, risks of default by clearing members and counterparties, due to bankruptcy, lack of liquidity, operational failure or other reasons, the risks associated with the adequacy of participants' margin, default and interoperable funds, and risks related to investing of such funds. These risks could subject our business to substantial losses, reputational harm, regulatory consequences, including litigation, fines and enforcement actions, and the inability to operate our business. To mitigate the credit risks related to defaults of clearing members and other counterparties, including the market risk that we would only be able to close out a defaulting participant's positions at a loss, there are minimum participation criteria to become a clearing member and clearing members are required to provide collateral to cover the margin requirement and default fund contributions and, in the case of certain clearing members with SFT without margin or default fund obligations, to grant Cboe Clear Europe title to or security over certain assets covering their obligations. Furthermore, Cboe Clear Europe interoperates with two central counterparties and requires its applicable members to make deposits to an interoperability fund, which are pledged to the interoperable central counterparties. No guarantee can be given that the collateral or other assets provided will at all times be sufficient, maintain its value, or provide absolute assurance against our experiencing financial losses from defaults by the members or counterparties on their obligations. In addition, although such collateral is preferably held in European central banks, Cboe Clear Europe also holds collateral in central securities depositories, in particular in the case of other assets for SFT, and commercial banks, which can expose us to risk of default by those institutions, and invests cash collateral in accordance with its investment policy, such as in securities issued by pre-approved sovereign issuers and reverse repurchase agreements with overnight maturities, which expose us to risk of counterparty default which may result in losses and cause its clearing members to lose confidence in our clearinghouse. Cboe Clear Europe entered into a €1.2 billion committed syndicated multicurrency revolving and swingline credit facility that is available to be drawn by Cboe Clear Europe towards (a) financing unsettled amounts in connection with the settlement of transactions in securities and other items processed through Cboe Clear Europe's clearing system and (b) financing any other liability or liquidity requirement of Cboe Clear Europe incurred in the operation of its clearing system, however we can give no assurance that this facility will be sufficient to meet all such obligations or sufficiently mitigate Cboe Clear Europe's liquidity risk to meet its payment obligations when due. Substantial amounts of the collateral, and any 33 33 33 Table of Contents Table of Contents amounts drawn under this facility, may be at risk if a clearing member defaults on its obligations to our clearinghouse and its margin, default and interoperability fund deposits are insufficient to meet its obligations. Additionally, a default of this facility may allow lenders, under certain circumstances, to accelerate any related drawn amounts and may result in the acceleration of the Company's other outstanding debt to which a cross-acceleration or cross-default provision applies, which may limit the Company's liquidity, business, and financing activities. This facility is expected to terminate on June 26, 2026 and we may not be able to enter into a replacement facility on commercially favorable terms, or at all. Additionally, investment losses in excess of capital set aside by Cboe Clear Europe for counterparty risk are allocated back to clearing members. Additionally, Cboe Clear U.S. could experience losses in excess of the collateral it holds, which may have an adverse effect on our business, if a clearing member defaults on its obligations to Cboe Clear U.S., and its margin and its guaranty fund deposits are insufficient to meet its obligations. Although our clearinghouses have rules, policies, and procedures that are reasonably designed to help protect them from the aforementioned risks, such policies and procedures may not succeed in preventing losses after a member's or counterparty's default. In addition, although we believe that we have carefully analyzed the process for setting margins and our financial safeguards, it is a complex process and there is no guarantee that our procedures will adequately protect us from the risks related to operating our clearinghouses. For example, we have previously identified and addressed potential procedure enhancement opportunities. We cannot assure you that the mitigating measures, policies, safeguards, and risk management procedures will be sufficient to detect problems or to protect us from a default or that we will not be materially and adversely affected in the event of a significant default. --- ## Modified: Our business and operations are dependent upon a number of third parties. An interruption, significant increase in fees or cessation or impairment of the services provided by or activities performed by any such third-party could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results. **Key changes:** - Reworded sentence: "Our business and operations are dependent on a number of third parties, including clearing organizations such as OCC, NSCC, the DTCC, the CDS, LCH, ASX Clear Pty Ltd, and SIX x-clear; our wholly-owned subsidiaries, Cboe Clear Europe, and Cboe Clear U.S.; securities information processors such as the CTA, UTP Securities Information Processor and OPRA; regulatory and other service providers such as FINRA and OCC; the hosts of our data and disaster recovery centers; and various vendors of communications and networking products and services." - Reworded sentence: "•We utilize third-party cloud service providers to maintain secondary offsite backups of our and our customers' data and to distribute real-time data, and we may utilize third-party cloud service providers in the future for additional services." - Reworded sentence: "•We rely on CATLLC, a subsidiary of FINRA, to provide services for the implementation of the CAT." - Reworded sentence: "•Trading in certain of our products is dependent on the operational availability of markets operated by third parties." - Reworded sentence: "An interruption or malfunction in or the cessation or impairment of an important service by a third-party or disruption of a third-party's operations could cause us to halt trading in some or all of our products or our services, make us unable to conduct other aspects of our business, cause us to experience the loss of a significant number of market participants, or cause us to experience a significant reduction in trading activity on our options and futures markets, each of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results." **Prior (2025):** We depend on a number of service providers, including clearing organizations such as OCC, NSCC, DTC, CDS, LCH, Cboe Clear Europe, and Cboe Clear U.S., our wholly-owned subsidiaries, JSCC, ASX Clear Pty Ltd, and SIX x-clear; securities information processors such as the CTA, UTP Securities Information Processor and OPRA; regulatory and other service providers such as FINRA and OCC; the hosts of our data and disaster recovery centers; and various vendors of communications and networking products and services. In addition, we also depend on third party routing and clearing firms that are involved in processing transactions on our behalf. More specifically: •If OCC, NSCC, DTC, CDS, LCH, Cboe Clear Europe, Cboe Clear U.S., JSCC, ASX Clear Pty Ltd, and SIX x-clear were unable to allow or perform clearing services for existing or new products, change the terms of their clearing services, their clearing members were unable or unwilling to clear through them, or OCC's technology migration is not successful, fewer transactions could occur on our markets or transactions could likely not occur on our markets or there may be delays, including until clearing is moved to another clearing agency. In 2024, approximately 69% of our net transaction and clearing fees were generated by options and futures that were cleared through OCC. See other Risk Factors for additional information regarding revenue concentration and below for additional information regarding OCC's recent margin requirement proposal. •OPRA, UTP Securities Information Processor and the CTA consolidate options and equities market information, respectively, such as last sale reports and quotations. If any of them were unable to provide this information for a sustained period of time, we may be unable to offer trading on our options and equities markets. •We are heavily dependent on technology for our markets, including third-party operation of production and disaster recovery data centers, as well as certain communications and networking products and services. If this technology is unavailable, as a result of a number of potential causes, including technical failure, failure to successfully complete technological migrations, natural disasters, extreme weather events, fraud or security attacks that we cannot predict or prevent, and cannot be replaced in a sufficiently short time period, we may be unable to operate our markets. 34 34 34 Table of Contents Table of Contents •We utilize third-party cloud service providers to maintain secondary offsite backups of our and our customers' data and to distribute real-time data, and we may utilize third-party cloud service providers in the future for additional services. We do not control the operations of third-party cloud service providers or their facilities and may be vulnerable to disruptions in our access to the platform as a result of a number of potential causes, including technical failure, natural disasters, extreme weather events, fraud or security attacks that we cannot predict or prevent. Additionally, any vulnerability of third-party cloud service providers could expose our or our customers' confidential data, which could result in harm to our business reputation. •FINRA and OCC provide certain regulatory services and functions for our options, equities and futures exchanges, while we retain regulatory responsibilities for such services. If FINRA or OCC stopped providing services, or provided inadequate services, we may be subject to action by the SEC or CFTC, or may have limitations placed upon our markets. •We rely on FINRA CAT LLC, a subsidiary of FINRA, to provide services for the implementation of the CAT. If FINRA CAT LLC or its third-party service providers stop providing services or provide inadequate services, we and the other SROs may not be able to recover costs related to the implementation of CAT, incur penalties for delays of implementation, incur related litigation and other expenses, or incur regulatory liability including enforcement action by the SEC or limitations placed upon our markets. In addition, if CATLLC is no longer able to collect fees from Industry Members as a result of litigation or regulatory developments, the SROs may not be able to collect on the promissory notes related to the funding of the implementation and operation of the CAT. See Note 8 ("Credit Losses"), Note 9 ("Other Assets, Net"), and Note 23 ("Commitments, Contingencies, and Guarantees - Legal Proceedings") for further information. •We rely on third party routing and clearing firms to clear trades in U.S. listed equity securities routed by us to other markets, and to execute trades in options that we route to other markets. OCC has proposed to establish a margin add-on charge ("Intraday Risk Charge") for all clearing member accounts to help mitigate the risks arising from intraday and overnight trading activity. If the Intraday Risk Charge is applied as currently proposed by OCC, clearing members' costs associated with clearing our products, including SPX options, through OCC may increase, which may result in lower trading volumes on our exchanges and could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and operating results. We cannot provide assurance that any of these providers will be able to continue to provide these services in an efficient manner or that they will be able to adequately expand their services to meet our needs. An interruption or malfunction in or the cessation or impairment of an important service by a third party or disruption of a third party's operations could cause us to halt trading in some or all of our products or our services, make us unable to conduct other aspects of our business, cause us to experience the loss of a significant number of market participants or cause us to experience a significant reduction in trading activity on our options and futures markets, each of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results. In addition, our inability to make alternative arrangements, such as moving clearing to another clearing agency, in a timely manner, or at all, could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and operating results. **Current (2026):** Our business and operations are dependent on a number of third parties, including clearing organizations such as OCC, NSCC, the DTCC, the CDS, LCH, ASX Clear Pty Ltd, and SIX x-clear; our wholly-owned subsidiaries, Cboe Clear Europe, and Cboe Clear U.S.; securities information processors such as the CTA, UTP Securities Information Processor and OPRA; regulatory and other service providers such as FINRA and OCC; the hosts of our data and disaster recovery centers; and various vendors of communications and networking products and services. In addition, we also depend on third-party routing and clearing firms that are involved in processing transactions on our behalf. More specifically: •If OCC, NSCC, DTCC, CDS, LCH, Cboe Clear Europe, Cboe Clear U.S., ASX Clear Pty Ltd, and SIX x-clear were unable to allow or perform clearing services for existing or new products, change the terms of their clearing services, their clearing members were unable or unwilling to clear through them, or OCC's technology migration is not successful, fewer transactions could occur on our markets or transactions could likely not occur on our markets or there may be delays, including until clearing is moved to another clearing agency. In 2025, approximately 69% of our net transaction and clearing fees were generated by options and futures that were cleared through OCC. See other Risk Factors for additional information regarding revenue concentration. 30 30 30 Table of Contents Table of Contents •OPRA, UTP Securities Information Processor and the CTA consolidate options and equities market information, respectively, such as last sale reports and quotations. If any of them were unable to provide this information for a sustained period of time, we may be unable to offer trading on our options and equities markets. •We are heavily dependent on technology for our markets, including third-party operation of production and disaster recovery data centers, as well as certain communications and networking products and services. If this technology is unavailable, as a result of a number of potential causes, including technical failure, failure to successfully complete technological migrations, natural disasters, extreme weather events, fraud or security attacks that we cannot predict or prevent, and cannot be replaced in a sufficiently short time period, we may be unable to operate our markets. •We utilize third-party cloud service providers to maintain secondary offsite backups of our and our customers' data and to distribute real-time data, and we may utilize third-party cloud service providers in the future for additional services. We do not control the operations of third-party cloud service providers or their facilities and may be vulnerable to disruptions in our access to the platform as a result of a number of potential causes, including technical failure, natural disasters, extreme weather events, fraud, or security attacks that we cannot predict or prevent. Additionally, any vulnerability of third-party cloud service providers could expose our or our customers' confidential data, which could result in harm to our business reputation. •FINRA and OCC provide certain regulatory services and functions for our options, equities and futures exchanges, while we retain regulatory responsibilities for such services. If FINRA or OCC stopped providing services, or provided inadequate services, we may be subject to action by the SEC or CFTC, or may have limitations placed upon our markets. •We rely on CATLLC, a subsidiary of FINRA, to provide services for the implementation of the CAT. If CATLLC or its third-party service providers stop providing services or provide inadequate services, we and the other SROs may not be able to recover costs related to the implementation of CAT, incur penalties for delays of implementation, incur related litigation and other expenses, or incur regulatory liability including enforcement action by the SEC or limitations placed upon our markets. In addition, if CATLLC is not able to collect fees again from Industry Members as a result of litigation or regulatory developments, the SROs may not be able to collect on the promissory notes related to the funding of the implementation and operation of the CAT and the SROs may continue to incur additional significant costs related to the historical, current, and future funding of the implementation and operation of the CAT. See Note 8 ("Credit Losses"), Note 9 ("Other Assets, Net"), and Note 23 ("Commitments, Contingencies, and Guarantees - Legal Proceedings") for further information. •Trading in certain of our products is dependent on the operational availability of markets operated by third parties. These intermarket dependencies can necessitate coordinated responses to disruptions across multiple market participants and may impact our ability to maintain orderly markets in dependent products. For example, in November 2025, trading of futures and options on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange was halted by a data-center fault, resulting in disruptions to markets across equities, foreign exchange, bonds, and commodities. We cannot provide assurance that any of these providers will be able to continue to provide these services in an efficient manner or that they will be able to adequately expand their services to meet our needs. An interruption or malfunction in or the cessation or impairment of an important service by a third-party or disruption of a third-party's operations could cause us to halt trading in some or all of our products or our services, make us unable to conduct other aspects of our business, cause us to experience the loss of a significant number of market participants, or cause us to experience a significant reduction in trading activity on our options and futures markets, each of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and operating results. In addition, our inability to make alternative arrangements, such as moving clearing to another clearing agency, in a timely manner, or at all, could have a material adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and operating results. --- ## Modified: We selectively explore acquisition opportunities, strategic alliances and divestitures relating to businesses, products, or technologies. We may not be successful in divesting or integrating businesses, products, or technologies. Any such transaction also may not produce the results we anticipate, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, and operating results. **Key changes:** - Reworded sentence: "We selectively explore and pursue acquisitions and other opportunities to strengthen our business and grow our Company." - Reworded sentence: "Further, the success of acquisitions, integrations, and future operations may also depend in part on our ability to retain key employees following acquisitions or find suitable candidates to replace such key employees who leave." - Added sentence: "In addition to risks associated with acquisitions and integrations, we may also face risks in executing strategic exits, divestitures, or wind downs of businesses." - Added sentence: "For example, we have announced the wind down of our Japan equities business, initiated sale processes for our Australia and Canada equities businesses and, subsequent to December 31, 2025, announced the wind down of CEDX." - Added sentence: "These actions may involve transitional disruptions, regulatory complexities, loss of customer relationships, reputational impacts, or challenges in retaining key personnel during the transition." **Prior (2025):** We selectively explore and pursue acquisition and other opportunities to strengthen our business and grow our Company. We may enter into business combination transactions, make acquisitions or enter into strategic partnerships, joint ventures or alliances, any of which may be material. The market for acquisition targets and strategic alliances is highly competitive, which could make it more difficult to find appropriate merger or acquisition opportunities. If we are required to raise capital by incurring debt or issuing additional equity for any reason in connection with a strategic acquisition or investment, financing may not be available or the terms of such financing may not be favorable to us and our stockholders, whose interests may be diluted by the issuance of additional stock. The process of integration, including in new geographies and asset classes with new regulatory regimes, may expose us to a number of unforeseen risks and operating difficulties, including risks relating to information technology migrations, integrations and security, regulatory issues, and other issues, and may divert the attention of management from the ongoing operation of our business and harm our reputation. We may not successfully achieve the integration objectives, and we may not realize the anticipated cost savings, revenue growth and synergies in full or at all, or it may take longer to realize them than expected, any of which could negatively impact our business, financial condition, and operating results. For example, in 40 40 40 Table of Contents Table of Contents May 2024, we halted trading on the Cboe Digital spot market, our spot digital asset trading platform, in-line with our plans to wind down the spot digital asset trading market and refocus the digital asset business to leverage Cboe's core strengths in derivatives, technology and product innovation. Further, the success of acquisitions, integrations, and future operations may also depend in part on our ability to retain following acquisitions key employees of acquired companies or find suitable candidates to replace such key employees who leave. If we are unable to retain such key employees, including management, we could face disruptions in our operations, integrations, loss of customers, loss of key information, expertise or know-how, and unanticipated additional recruitment costs. **Current (2026):** We selectively explore and pursue acquisitions and other opportunities to strengthen our business and grow our Company. We may enter into business combination transactions, make acquisitions, or enter into strategic partnerships, joint ventures or alliances, any of which may be material. The market for acquisition targets and strategic alliances is highly competitive, which could make it more difficult to find appropriate merger or acquisition opportunities. If we are required to raise capital by incurring debt or issuing additional equity for any reason in connection with a strategic acquisition or investment, financing may not be available or the terms of such financing may not be favorable to us and our stockholders, whose interests may be diluted by the issuance of additional stock. The process of integration, including in new geographies and asset classes with new regulatory regimes, may expose us to a number of unforeseen risks and operating difficulties, including risks relating to information technology migrations, integrations and security, regulatory issues, and other issues, and may divert the attention of management from the ongoing operation of our business and harm our reputation. We may not successfully achieve the integration objectives, and we may not realize the anticipated cost savings, revenue growth and synergies in full or at all, or it may take longer to realize them than expected, any of which could negatively impact our business, financial condition, and operating results. Further, the success of acquisitions, integrations, and future operations may also depend in part on our ability to retain key employees following acquisitions or find suitable candidates to replace such key employees who leave. If we are unable to retain such key employees, including management, we could face disruptions in our operations, integrations, loss of customers, loss of key information, expertise or know-how, and unanticipated additional recruitment costs. In addition to risks associated with acquisitions and integrations, we may also face risks in executing strategic exits, divestitures, or wind downs of businesses. For example, we have announced the wind down of our Japan equities business, initiated sale processes for our Australia and Canada equities businesses and, subsequent to December 31, 2025, announced the wind down of CEDX. These actions may involve transitional disruptions, regulatory complexities, loss of customer relationships, reputational impacts, or challenges in retaining key personnel during the transition. If we are unable to effectively manage these exits or realize the anticipated cost savings and strategic benefits, our business, financial condition, and operating results could be materially adversely affected. --- *Data sourced from SEC EDGAR. Last updated 2026-06-01.*