Nasdaq Increases Options Market Accessibility with Nasdaq Smart Options
Nasdaq launches Smart Options to enable wider adoption of options data

NEW YORK, October 24, 2019 — Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) today announced the launch of Nasdaq Smart Options, a service that allows for easier access to essential options market data. Nasdaq Smart Options provides a more manageable and less resource-intensive data feed from the U.S. options markets in real time, drawing the essential data from the standard Options Price Reporting Authority (OPRA) data feed.

The Nasdaq Smart Options feed supports the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO) and Last Sale trade messages, as well as administrative messages for all listed options. Individual exchange BBO data is excluded, which significantly reduces bandwidth cost and contributes to savings of more than 80% of the cost of connecting to the full OPRA data feed. This curated data package more closely aligns with the needs and cost parameters of the advisory community and the investing public. This means more investors can leverage options data to gain insights and make better-informed decisions.

The launch of Nasdaq Smart Options follows in Nasdaq’s tradition of innovation and using data to help make markets more transparent and accessible.

“The options markets is vitally important to the financial ecosystem, but many users have not been equipped to handle the massive volume of messages from those markets,” said Oliver Albers, Senior Vice President and Head of Strategic Partnerships with Nasdaq’s Global Information Services. “Nasdaq Smart Options provides a manageable feed to provide easier access to this important information and gain valuable market insights.”

“As a data provider, it’s important that we supply our clients with the information they actually need, and in ways that they can use most effectively. Nasdaq Smart Options enables us to reduce excessive ‘noise’ in our options quotes, with a far more concise display of information, making it easier to see what is really happening in the options market. We provide our clients with a greatly improved user experience,” said Christian Amott, CTO of QuoteMedia, a leading provider of market data feeds, applications, and dynamic financial web content solutions. “The 80% reduction in bandwidth results in significant time and cost savings, making the options market much more accessible to our clientele and to the investing public in general.”

Nasdaq Smart Options is available to U.S. registered broker dealers, advisors, and members of the public. For more information, please visit https://www.nasdaq.com/solutions/nasdaq-smart-options.

About Nasdaq
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Nasdaq Media Contact
Matthew Sheahan
(212) 231-5945
matthew.sheahan@nasdaq.com