Charles Schwab partners with Cboe on S&P 500 event-based options
Charles Schwab is partnering with Cboe to launch S&P 500 binary options contracts, according to a Wall Street Journal report dated June 19, 2026. The yes-or-no wagers will let investors trade on whether the index closes above or below specific target prices by certain dates. The product marks Schwab's first move into prediction-market-style offerings and would leverage its approximately 39 million active brokerage accounts. Schwab follows trading platforms including Robinhood and Interactive Brokers that have already rolled out event contracts. The company has not announced a launch date. The offering places the established retail brokerage in direct competition with Kalshi and Polymarket, two leading event-contract platforms.
Schwab's 39 million active accounts dwarf Kalshi's retail base, giving the brokerage instant scale to capture event-contract volume without building a prediction-market brand from scratch. Schwab converts even a fraction of its existing users, Kalshi and Polymarket face a mainstream competitor with built-in distribution.