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NDAQ · Forward model · Market Services · Index reset 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 $96.09 all other verticals held in this portfolio case
Final-quarter revenue $461M 21% of company revenue
Explicit segment contribution $3.96B EBITDA less segment capex, before corporate items

The single most testable claim in the quarter, isolated. Nasdaq disclosed that $260 billion of the last twelve months' AUM growth was market appreciation against $109 billion of net inflows: 70% of it was the market, not new money. This case takes that appreciation back out - a 20% drawdown in average ETP AUM two quarters from the basis, after which the base grows on inflows alone - and touches nothing else. Every other line is the base case. What this case does NOT reach is a bear case: fair value lands close to the tape, and that is the finding.

Market Services

Basis quarter$340M
Final quarter$461M
Implied CAGR+6%
Final revenue mix21%

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: $461M (2031Q2E)

Period Value
2024Q1 $237M
2024Q2 $250M
2024Q3 $266M
2024Q4 $268M
2025Q1 $281M
2025Q2 $306M
2025Q3 $303M
2025Q4 $311M
2026Q1 $317M
2026Q2 $340M
2026Q3E $346M
2026Q4E $352M
2027Q1E $358M
2027Q2E $364M
2027Q3E $370M
2027Q4E $376M
2028Q1E $382M
2028Q2E $388M
2028Q3E $394M
2028Q4E $400M
2029Q1E $406M
2029Q2E $412M
2029Q3E $418M
2029Q4E $424M
2030Q1E $430M
2030Q2E $436M
2030Q3E $442M
2030Q4E $448M
2031Q1E $455M
2031Q2E $461M

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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