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NDAQ · Forward model · Market Services · Bull case

What has to happen in Market Services

Model as of

This page changes Market Services inside the complete NDAQ model. Every other vertical, corporate programme and valuation assumption stays in the selected portfolio case.

NDAQ forward model
Horizon
Consolidated fair value $132.02 all other verticals held in this portfolio case
Final-quarter revenue $520M 20% of company revenue
Explicit segment contribution $4.35B EBITDA less segment capex, before corporate items

The One Nasdaq cross-sell thesis works and the index franchise keeps taking share of a growing ETF market. Cross-sells stay above 15% of the Financial Technology pipeline and the Verafin enterprise motion scales, so ARR growth holds in the mid-teens instead of decaying, margins expand faster than the base glide, and the market keeps paying 17x for a 59%-EBITDA-margin recurring-revenue compounder. What this case does NOT assume is any acceleration in Market Services volume beyond the base.

Market Services

Basis quarter$340M
Final quarter$520M
Implied CAGR+9%
Final revenue mix20%

The exchange itself: U.S. equity options, U.S. cash equities, and the Nordic and Baltic markets, reported net of the transaction rebates and clearing fees Nasdaq collects and passes straight through. The volume metric is the disclosed U.S. equity options industry average daily volume, 66.5 million contracts a day in the basis quarter against 52.5 million a year earlier, and the monetisation metric is $5.11M of net revenue per million contracts of that daily industry volume. The rate has sat between $5.06M and $5.98M for ten quarters while the volume behind it grew 54%.

Last four quarters
2025 Q3 $303M Reported
2025 Q4 $311M Reported
2026 Q1 $317M Reported
2026 Q2 $340M Reported
U.S. equity options transaction fees, net of rebatesU.S. cash equity transaction fees, net of rebatesNordic and Baltic equities, options and futuresClearing and settlement
U.S. options industry ADV (M contracts/day) 66/qtr growing +2.8% per quarter 66.5 million contracts a day of U.S. equity options industry volume, printed in the Key Drivers table.
Net revenue per M contracts of daily volume $5M drifting −1.0% per quarter $340M of NET revenue over 66.5. An INDEX rate: cash equities and the Nordics ride inside it.
Market Services

Latest: $520M (2031Q2E)

Period Value
2024Q1 $237M
2024Q2 $250M
2024Q3 $266M
2024Q4 $268M
2025Q1 $281M
2025Q2 $306M
2025Q3 $303M
2025Q4 $311M
2026Q1 $317M
2026Q2 $340M
2026Q3E $348M
2026Q4E $356M
2027Q1E $365M
2027Q2E $373M
2027Q3E $381M
2027Q4E $390M
2028Q1E $398M
2028Q2E $407M
2028Q3E $416M
2028Q4E $425M
2029Q1E $434M
2029Q2E $443M
2029Q3E $452M
2029Q4E $461M
2030Q1E $470M
2030Q2E $480M
2030Q3E $490M
2030Q4E $499M
2031Q1E $509M
2031Q2E $520M

Assumptions & reasoning

  • The volume metric is an INDEX, not the whole business. U.S. cash equities and the Nordic and Baltic markets ride inside the per-unit rate, which is why that rate is $5.11M rather than a per-contract fee, and why both traces are relabelled to say what they are.
  • U.S. options ADV was chosen over U.S. cash equity ADV because its monetisation rate is the tighter of the two: $5.06M to $5.98M over ten quarters, against $15.9M to $23.1M per billion shares for the cash-equity index over the same ten.
  • Net revenue is the only honest basis here. Gross Market Services revenue was $1,372M in the quarter against $340M net, because $712M of transaction rebates and $320M of brokerage, clearance and exchange fees are collected and handed straight back to market participants.
  • The rate carries share loss as well as price. Nasdaq's total matched options share has drifted from 30.8% in 2023 Q4 to 29.1%, and its cash-equity matched share from 16.3% to 15.1%. Nasdaq publishes no revenue capture per contract, so the two cannot be separated.
  • The margin is the Market Services divisional margin, 67.4% of NET revenue, taken from the segment note. It is the highest in the company and it is on a base already net of pass-throughs.
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