OCC, the world’s largest equity derivatives clearing organization, announced that MIAX Sapphire, LLC (MIAX Sapphire^®) has become an OCC participant exchange. MIAX Sapphire, owned by parent holding company Miami International Holdings, Inc. (MIH), launched operation of the MIAX Sapphire electronic exchange on August 12, 2024.

MIAX Sapphire is MIAX’s fourth U.S. listed options exchange. With the addition of MIAX Sapphire, OCC now provides clearing and settlement services to 21 exchanges and trading platforms for options, futures and securities lending transactions.

“OCC congratulates MIH on the launch of its fourth listed options exchange,” said Andrej Bolkovic, OCC Chief Executive Officer. “As the central counterparty clearinghouse for all U.S. listed options, we are pleased to offer our clearing and settlement capabilities to MIAX Sapphire and to support the exchange-traded options industry’s continued growth.”

“The launch of MIAX Sapphire provides our members, liquidity providers and market makers with a new exchange designed to meet their evolving demands for improved access to options liquidity,” said Thomas P. Gallagher, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MIH. “The launch of our fourth U.S. options exchange provides our market participants with access to 100% of the multi-listed options market, all supported by our proprietary technology designed to enhance liquidity and promote improved price discovery.”

Source: OCC

18 US Options exchanges now https://t.co/XBoVnAKiSD

— Joe Saluzzi (@JoeSaluzzi) August 12, 2024

MIH Announces Successful Launch of MIAX Sapphire

Miami International Holdings, Inc. (MIH), a technology-driven leader in building and operating regulated financial markets across multiple asset classes and geographies, announced the successful launch of MIAX Sapphire™, its fourth national securities exchange for U.S. multi-listed options, with the rollout of options on its first symbol, IBM. MIAX Sapphire will begin offering trading in additional symbols in multiple phases on a weekly schedule commencing next week and continuing through October 21, 2024.

The launch of the MIAX Sapphire electronic exchange will be followed by the opening of a physical trading floor in Miami, Florida, in 2025. MIAX Sapphire will be the first national securities exchange to establish operations in Miami. This space will include a next-generation trading floor, ancillary office space for MIAX employees and market participants, conference facilities and broadcast media space.

“MIAX’s expansion in the U.S. options space has been accomplished entirely through organic growth and the successful launch of four options exchanges since 2012 is a significant achievement for our company. I am grateful to all of the MIAX teams, especially our business, technology and legal teams, for enabling us to build and launch all of our exchanges over such a short period,” said Thomas P. Gallagher, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MIH. “The launch of the MIAX Sapphire electronic exchange is an important first step towards opening our state-of-the-art physical trading floor in Miami in 2025, and further expanding our presence in Florida.”  

MIAX Sapphire utilizes Taker-Maker pricing and a Price-Time allocation model while leveraging MIAX-based technology and infrastructure, a highly resilient platform that has delivered 99.9998% operational uptime since the launch of MIAX Options in 2012.

“MIAX Sapphire provides the industry with a new exchange designed to meet the high performance demands of the U.S. options industry,” said Shelly Brown, Executive Vice President, Strategic Planning and Business Development of MIH. “MIAX Sapphire is built using the same proprietary technology and infrastructure underpinning other MIAX exchanges, enabling existing MIAX Exchange members to access the new exchange with minimal additional technology efforts.”

For more information on MIAX Sapphire, including key milestone dates, member on-boarding and technology requirements, please visit miaxglobal.com/markets/us-options/sapphire-options or contact MIAX Trading Operations at TradingOperations@miaxglobal.com.

Source: MIAX