Cboe and TXSE gain ETF listing share in challenge to NYSE and Nasdaq

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Cboe, TXSE challenge NYSE, Nasdaq

Highlights

Cboe captured 561 exchange-traded product launches so far in 2025, nearly half of all U.S. launches, up from 340 in all of 2024.
NYSE and Nasdaq’s combined share of new ETF listings dropped to a record low 47.7% in 2025, down from about two-thirds in recent years.
Derivatives-heavy ETF assets surged to $337 billion from $104 billion at 2023's end, driving Cboe’s growth and reshaping exchange competition.

ETF listing momentum shifts toward newer exchanges

As first reported by Financial Times, Chicago-based Cboe has secured 561 exchange-traded product launches so far this year, according to Morningstar, nearly half of all U.S. launches. That compares with 340 in all of 2025, when it accounted for just under a third of launches.

The Texas Stock Exchange, which began operating in July, has also started to win primary ETF listings over the past month, including funds transferred from NYSE Arca, the NYSE’s electronic exchange focused on ETFs and similar products. Morningstar data show NYSE and Nasdaq’s combined share of new listings has fallen to 47.7 per cent this year, the lowest level on record and down from roughly two-thirds in recent years.

The broader market for launches is also expanding quickly. Morningstar says 1,187 ETFs are launched in the first nine months of this year, already ahead of the full-year 2025 record of 1,117.

Some issuers are also moving existing funds. Allianz Investment Management transfers 34 funds from NYSE Arca to Cboe at the turn of the year, while TXSE has secured 10 ETFs since its first listing in mid-September, including three that moved from NYSE Arca.

Derivatives boom reshapes exchange competition

The contest for listings is being driven in part by fast growth in derivatives-heavy ETFs, a segment that plays to Cboe’s background as an options exchange. Bryan Armour, director of passive strategies research at Morningstar, says Cboe has become a significant disrupter and that the emergence of TXSE shows an attempt to break up the dominance of NYSE and Nasdaq.

Products such as buffer ETFs and covered call funds now hold $337 billion in assets, up from $104 billion at the end of 2023, according to ETF Action. Leveraged and inverse ETFs, which use swaps and futures to magnify returns or mimic short selling, hold $183 billion, nearly double their asset base at the end of 2023.

Armour says leveraged and inverse ETFs are effectively gambling and make poor long-term investments, but investor demand for such strategies is still rising. Cboe has responded by capping annual fees for issuers launching families of defined outcome ETFs and has captured a large share of listings from Corgi Funds, which has launched more than 200 ETFs since December.

Incumbent exchanges are also adjusting. Nasdaq last month introduced a programme with enhanced market maker support, while both Nasdaq and NYSE have opened Texas exchanges in the past 18 months. Even so, NYSE Arca remains the leader by asset value with 73 per cent of U.S. ETF assets, according to Tidal Financial Group, ahead of Nasdaq’s 18 per cent and Cboe’s 7.6 per cent.

TXSE’s shareholder base includes BlackRock, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, and the exchange is pitching its newer infrastructure and issuer economics as advantages. WisdomTree, which lists two ETFs on the Dallas-based venue this month, says greater competition among exchanges is positive for both issuers and investors.

Our earlier article on India’s disinvestment programme explained that most proceeds since FY2016 have come through market-based routes such as ETFs, public offerings and buybacks, while strategic sales contributed a relatively small share. It also highlighted how the proposed IDBI Bank stake sale could materially lift the current year’s totals and potentially help the government exceed its disinvestment target.

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