Adena Friedman, chair and chief executive of Nasdaq, said on the third quarter results call on 22 October 2026 that group achieved new milestones across all three divisions, including record index net inflows, record fintech ARR (annualized recurring revenue) growth, and the establishment of Nasdaq Digital Liquidity Networks within Market Services.

Friedman added: “The shift towards more connected and always-on markets is gaining momentum, and Nasdaq is shaping the next generation of market infrastructure.”

Nasdaq executed several strategic actions to advance this evolution. Digital Liquidity Networks (DLN) was formed to unify the capabilities, investments, and solutions the firm has been developing to advance tokenization and always-on markets under one strategy.

Within DLN, Nasdaq completed the acquisition of LeveL Markets, the third largest Alternative Trading System (ATS) in the U.S. by trading volume, on 15 October 2026. LeveL is expected to contribute revenue of between $7m and $8m in the fourth quarter.

Roland Chai, head of Digital Liquidity Networks, said in a statement: “LeveL Markets advances Nasdaq’s vision for more connected, always-on markets by adding a scaled off-exchange liquidity platform and execution expertise to Nasdaq’s technology, market capabilities, and client relationships.”

Friedman continued that the LeveL Markets acquisition strengthens the ability to deliver institutional-grade liquidity and execution solutions to clients with more flexibility through an off-exchange venue. She added: “We also have the ability to expand Level ATS to new markets and to connect its 2,500 institutional and retail brokerage clients to multiple global markets and asset classes.”

In another new capability, HSBC is extending its 15-year partnership with Nasdaq, adding Calypso’s exchange-traded derivatives (ETD) clearing capabilities. This  brings clearing across over-the-counter (OTC), exchange-traded derivatives, and repos into a unified platform, helping HSBC manage margin, collateral, and risk more efficiently according to Friedman. She said  Nasdaq had very narrow  capabilities in ETD clearing and described HSBC as a “great partner” to work with to build out that capability.

“This allows us to go to market with a new module in Calypso and be much more comprehensive in allowing people to manage risk,“ Friedman added.

Her view is that always-on markets and AI will lead to the convergence of markets, asset classes and geographies, so risk management needs to be multi-asset class, global and real time.

“You have to use agentic capabilities to manage risk in real time and take action in real time and all the capabilities we are building in Calypso are related to that,” she said. “In addition to tokenization, it’s been a big investment year for us and we see it unlocking durable demand.”

Friedman described Calypso as the “premier” provider of collateral management capabilities. In March this year Calypso announced an integration with Baton Systems to provide clients with advanced collateral workflow automation and fast, efficient asset mobilization capabilities. Baton Systems operates a real-time network connecting major global banks and futures clearing merchants (FCMs) directly to clearing houses.

“All forms of collateral are moving into a tokenized state, and that allows banks to think about moving from one collateral pool to another in a much more seamless way,” she added.

Nasdaq has completed a proof of concept with two major investment management firms, Vanguard and Wellington, to use Canton, the privacy-enabled blockchain, to move collateral. Friedman said the pilot worked “instantly and perfectly.”

Equities trading

Nasdaq remains on track to go live with 23/5 trading of U.S. equities on 6 December 2026, which will expand global access to the stocks.

“This launch of expanded, nearly continuous weekday trading hours is an important step in the journey to always-on markets, enabling broader investor access and greater transparency for all market participants,” said Friedman.

Nasdaq has also signed a deal with Eqlipse Trading technology to power the 24/7 U.S. equities trading ecosystem. In market technology, Nasdaq said there growing demand for always-on markets. In the third quarter Bruce ATS signed an agreement to use Nasdaq’s trading technology to power the first 24/7 U.S. equities trading ecosystem.

“Expanding continuous U.S. equities trading over the weekends through an institutional-grade ATS is a significant development for the markets,” added Friedman.

Other markets are also using Nasdaq for managed services, to help them modernize their platforms and move to cloud. She said: “It’s a really good demand environment right now.”

In addition, Nasdaq is working with DTCC as the post-trade market infrastructure prepares to launch its tokenization service in October 2026. Nasdaq is on track to launch the Nasdaq equity token in the first half of 2027, which Friedman said will put issuers at the center of tokenization.

In September this year the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission announced an innovation exemption allowing new markets called Tokenized Securities Venues (TSVs) to trade NMS stocks with certain limitations, including market share thresholds. Friedman said: “They are not going to have a huge impact on our business.”

If NMS stock is tokenized by a third party unaffiliated with the issuer, the TSV must provide a written notice to the issuer allowing them to object. A number of companies have already objected to tokens representing their stock being traded on a TSV set up by OKXICE. Nasdaq has said it will not allow its own stock to be traded on TSVs.

In contrast, Nasdaq is working with crypto firm Kraken to deliver a tokenized equity that is fungible with traditional shares and offers real-time settlement. In September 2026 Nasdaq announced an expansion of its relationship with Payward, the parent company of Kraken, including an agreement by Nasdaq Ventures to invest $100m, the continued advancement of the companies’ work on the Nasdaq equity token framework, and a new market surveillance agreement.  Nasdaq equity tokens will be designed to connect with Payward’s xStocks ecosystem.

Arjun Sethi, co-chief executive of Payward, said in a statement that more than $2 trillion of stock trades run through the U.S. clearing system every day.

“Buys and sells net down by about 98%, and the clearing house holds $10bn to $20bn of collateral against what is left while it waits a day to settle,” Sethi added. “Cutting that wait from two days to one in 2024 released $3 bn. Onchain settlement removes the wait.”

Friedman said Nasdaq will be able to use Level ATS to distribute tokenized equities through Kraken. The Nasdaq equity tokens will settle through a “very innovative” custodian according to Friedman.

“It’s a really nice, elegant solution,” she added. “We will have instantaneous settlements and it also allows the issuer to have line of sight into investors.”

Some clients have said they will be an early adopter of the Nasdaq equity token, which is slated to launch in the first half of next year.

Nasdaq has commented to the SEC that TSVs sit outside the general rules that govern U.S. equities trading and are not transparent today as trades do not get reported to the tape.

“Our view is that tokenization should be focused on all trading and not try to create this sidecar kind of experimentation,” Friedman added. “The good news is the SEC did limit the extent to which these innovation exemptions can have an impact on equities.”

AI

Sarah Youngwood, chief financial officer of Nasdaq, said on the call: “The move towards always-on markets and expanding AI use cases are supporting client demand for the data franchise, which will be durable trends for years ahead.”

The data business reported a 34% year-over-year increase in the number of enterprise licenses. Friedman said this is due to Nasdaq focussing on delivering data that is AI-ready, and delivering capabilities that drive agentic capabilities for clients. The group has created MCP connectors to allow clients to absorb and ingest the data in a flexible way and integrate it into agentic workflows.

Friedman said: “Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly foundational to how institutions make decisions, manage risk, and allocate capital and Nasdaq is extending its leadership through solutions embedded across our platform.”

For example, so far this year 25% of bookings for eVestment, Nasdaq’s cloud-based institutional investment data, analytics, and market intelligence platform, were related to AI use cases.

In Data Link, the cloud-based financial, economic, and alternative data platform, Nasdaq continues to expand distribution as clients develop AI-native workflows. Friedman gave the example of partnering with retail broker Robinhood to embed a new proprietary dataset into its agentic trading platform. She added: “This gives investors access to sophisticated market sentiment and institutional-grade investor insights to power agentic decision making.”

She continued that Nasdaq expanded client adoption of its AI capabilities. For example, the firm signed new clients for calibration copilot, an AI-powered tool built into Nasdaq’s market surveillance and compliance platform.

Nasdaq Verafin, a cloud-based financial crime management software platform, has an agentic AI workforce that is used by more than 850 clients. In the third quarter Verafin announced the general availability of two new AI workers, the agentic AML (anti-money laundering) analyst and the agentic fraud analyst.

The group also launched a new operating environment which enables clients to connect their own AI infrastructure and serve as an access point for the agentic capabilities of Calypso, Nasdaq’s capital markets and treasury management platform.

As clients are thinking about deploying AI, they are moving more of their own infrastructure into the cloud. As a result, Nasdaq is seeing an uptick in cloud signings within fintech solutions. Friedman said: “We had 85% of bookings in cloud, and that allows us to be more of a managed service provider.”

Index business

The index business reached new records for exchange-traded product (ETP) assets under management and net inflow records.

Index had $14bn in net inflows over the trailing twelve months, including $49bn in the third quarter of this year.  At the end of the third quarter, ETP assets under management was a record $1.16 trillion, with the average of $1.1 trillion, both new records.

Nasdaq launched 32 new index products in the third quarter, including 10 in the institutional annuity space. Half of the new products launched in the third quarter were outside the U.S. Approximately one third, 35%, of the trailing 12-month net inflows have been driven by products launched over the last five years.

“We continue to experience early momentum from our partnerships with BlackRock and State Street, with combined assets under management exceeding $1bn,” added Friedman. “We also continue to grow our long standing partnership with Invesco, expanding the Invesco QQQ innovation suite through the launch of the Invesco Nasdaq International Innovators 100 ETF.”

Financial results

Third quarter 2026 net revenue was $1.5bn, an increase of 13% over the third quarter of 2025. Youngwood said Nasdaq delivered “excellent” third quarter results, headlined by outstanding solutions revenue growth, continued operating leverage, and strong EPS (earnings per share) growth.

The Market Services division set a record in third quarter net revenue of $309m, up 2% versus the prior year period. Nasdaq said the business benefited from higher industry volumes across U.S. options and European equities with robust performance in U.S. cash equities, which achieved higher market share and near record capture.

Solutions revenue was $1.2bn in the third quarter, an increase of 17% versus the prior year period, due to strong growth across capital access platforms and financial technology.

The listings franchise continued its strong momentum from the first half of the year, according to Friedman. She said there has been a modest softening in the IPO environment in recent weeks, with some companies in certain sectors re-evaluating the timing of their IPOs. However, the listings pipeline remains robust, and she said Nasdaq is well positioned to support companies preparing to enter the public markets across a wide range of sectors.

Youngwood said: “Our durable business model and disciplined execution underpin our capital allocation strategy that prioritizes funding investments in long-term growth while returning more than $1.7 bn to shareholders year to date through share repurchases and dividends.”