CNBC adds permanent set on the Cboe trading floor in Chicago

CNBC has opened a broadcast set on the trading floor of Cboe Global Markets in Chicago, the operator of the first U.S. options exchange, expanding a multiyear collaboration the two companies announced in March.

The set sits beside the S&P 500 Index options pit and supports daily live coverage of the options market.

CNBC and Cboe have described the arrangement as part of a broader effort to expand the network’s reporting on options trading, an area that has drawn growing interest from individual investors.

Total U.S. options trading volume in 2025 reached 15.2 billion contracts, up 26% compared with 2024, according to Cboe. The company attributed the increase to demand for risk-management tools from retail and institutional investors and to growth in options-based exchange-traded funds.

A set built around the floor

The set is designed so the trading floor remains the focus.

“The set itself doesn’t really present itself on TV so much, because what we want to see is the trading floor,” said Lou Visconti, streaming platform and broadcast technology manager at Versant. “So the trading floor ends up being the star of the shot.”

“The floor is one of the last real open-outcry areas of any market whatsoever,” said Jason Gewirtz, vice president of news at CNBC. “The traders on the floor are yelling at each other. They’re giving signals, and they’re doing live orders just like it used to be at the New York Stock Exchange 40 years ago.”

The floor uses open-outcry trading, a system in which traders communicate orders by shouting and using hand signals rather than relying only on computers.

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Designed by Jack Morton, the set occupies a small but well-defined space, integrating into the trading floor. Premium textures like marble and wood tones adorn the structure with integrated lighting throughout the walls and desk. Lit columns break up the floor view on wider shots with the option for talent to sit or stand behind the desk.

Built adjacent to a window-lined hall, the Cboe plans to incorporate the set into customer tours of the trading floor and potentially activate the space for its communications.

The technology on the set

With the set built on an active trading floor in a high-rise building, the overall goal of the set is more to act as a frame for production equipment, Visconti noted. Providing both a dedicated space for CNBC and integrating the necessary infrastructure to broadcast live. 

The set houses three Sony PTZ cameras that can be operated remotely from CNBC’s broadcast facility in Englewood Cliffs, with feeds transmitted via LiveU transmitters, along with Cuescript prompters and lights from Creamsource. 

Behind the scenes, Cboe has also expanded its own production capabilities across the building, along with providing a feed of the daily opening bell. 

The exchange installed a Vizrt TriCaster system that lets its team switch segments, and it operates a wireless camera that can move around the floor on busier days. 

Building an options vertical

CNBC’s Oliver Renick will cover the floor and options, with scheduled live segments during the trading day. The network also broadcasts the opening and closing bell ceremonies from Cboe and publishes online coverage of the options market.

The set is part of CNBC’s move to build an editorial vertical around options, following the earlier relaunch of its “Options Action” franchise.

Gewirtz said CNBC views both established business networks and newer social-media-focused outlets as competitors for options coverage, and that the network plans to expand its presence to meet the audience demand.

“Through this dedicated on-site presence, investors across the world now have a view into one of the world’s most dynamic trading floors,” said Megan Goett, chief marketing officer at Cboe Global Markets. 

As part of the CNBC @ Cboe launch, the network will air special programming from the trading floor on Thursday, June 25. Anchored by Kelly Evans and Brian Sullivan, the special will feature interviews with investors, traders and business leaders.

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Scheduled guests include Austan Goolsbee, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, in what CNBC said will be his first public appearance after the Federal Reserve’s June meeting; John Rogers, co-CEO and chief investment officer of Ariel Investments; Craig Donohue, CEO of Cboe Global Markets; Pat Ryan Jr., CEO of Ryan Sports Development; Mike O’Grady, CEO of Northern Trust; Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG; and Bill Nygren, partner and chief investment officer for U.S. equities at Harris Oakmark Funds.

CNBC reporters Renick, Rick Santelli and Phil LeBeau will also take part in the broadcast.