Charles Schwab, in partnership with Cboe, launches S&P 500 “event-driven options,” bringing Wall Street powerhouses to enter the market and forecast market changes

American traditional brokerage giant Charles Schwab is collaborating with Cboe to launch "event-based options" tracking the performance of the S&P 500, officially entering the prediction market space. The product features a binary options structure and is strictly limited to financial events, rejecting political and sports betting, indicating that prediction markets have officially gained the attention of Wall Street's traditional financial giants.
(Background: Prediction market Kalshi's annual revenue surpasses $2 billion, tripling in six months! Rumored to be entering early IPO negotiations)
(Additional context: CME plans to sue the CFTC: allowing Kalshi to launch Bitcoin perpetual contracts is illegal)

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• Partnering with Cboe to launch event-based options, focusing on the S&P 500
• Maintaining compliance boundaries, fully rejecting political and sports betting
• Mainstreaming prediction markets, Coinbase and Robinhood face strong competitors

The prediction market sector is welcoming heavyweight traditional financial giants. According to a recent report published by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on June 19, 2026, U.S. veteran broker Charles Schwab is about to enter this new blue ocean, driven by the buzz created by startups like Polymarket and Kalshi, offering retail investors new event-driven trading products.

Partnering with Cboe to launch event-based options, focusing on the S&P 500

The report states that Schwab is deepening its cooperation with Cboe Global Markets, planning to introduce a new "yes-or-no" event contract to its clients within the next few months. The initial product will directly focus on predicting the movement of the S&P 500 index.

Unlike the futures-style contracts common on platforms like Polymarket, Schwab’s product structure is closer to traditional binary options. Investors can bet on whether the S&P 500 will be above or below a preset target price at expiration; if their prediction is correct, they receive a fixed payout, otherwise, it’s zero. Additionally, both parties are exploring the integration of Cboe’s "Plus Zone" feature, which would allow investors who do not hit the target exactly but fall within a close range to receive a partial payout.

Maintaining compliance boundaries, fully rejecting political and sports betting

Notably, while platforms like Polymarket have gained fame through political elections and pop culture bets, Schwab has chosen a more conservative and compliant path. The company emphasizes that future contracts of this type will be strictly limited to "objectively verifiable events in financial markets," avoiding political elections, sports events, or other non-financial betting areas, to meet U.S. regulatory requirements and align with the company's risk appetite.

Mainstreaming prediction markets, Coinbase and Robinhood face strong competitors

This major move marks the official expansion of prediction markets from the crypto and startup worlds into mainstream Wall Street finance. Previously, Schwab executives had been cautious about such products, even sharply distinguishing "gambling" from "investment" in interviews; now, through collaboration with Cboe and offering highly regulated financial products, it demonstrates that event-driven trading has enormous, undeniable potential in the retail market.

As the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN) and the popular retail trading platform Robinhood (HOOD) have recently expanded their prediction market footprints, Schwab’s strong entry will undoubtedly intensify the competition in this fusion of finance, technology, and crypto-driven prediction markets.