Nine-month fee free holiday set to be a key factor in the energy exchange’s success
Exchange group Nasdaq last week saw the first crude options trade on its recently-launched energy exchange, Nasdaq Futures (NFX), after launching less than a fortnight ago.
The first crude options contract on the fledgling exchange was brokered by independent inter-dealer broker OTC Global Holdings’ (OTCGH) firm Power Merchants Group last Thursday, the company told FOW on Tuesday.
Power Merchants is a portfolio company of OTCGH and a brokering group of EOX Holdings, which specialises in options, swaps and index-related products across a range of US and Canadian natural gas delivery points, as well as crude oil options and swaps. The exchange group launched successfully on Friday July 24 after months of development work.
OTCGH has a portfolio of commodities brokers across financial and physical instruments. The news comes after FOW reported last week that interdealer broker OTCGH’s firm Ion Energy Group brokered the first options trade on NFX on Tuesday 28 July.
As well as offering brokerage services on the new Nasdaq new platform, OTCGH has also integrated its EOXLive commodity trading platform on NFX.
Nasdaq’s push into energy, as first reported by FOW, went live with 26 products across the energy space with the backing of more 40 firms as well as 16 members approved as brokers.
Magnus Haglind, chief executive of NFX, told FOW in an exclusive interview in the days leading up to launch that the firm is targeting a 10% market share within the first two years of operations for the long-awaited exchange.
Since announcing the push into energy – which sees Nasdaq pitching its offering in direct competition with incumbents The Intercontinental Exchange and CME Group – in March at the FIA’s Florida conference this year, the group has been aggressively signing partnerships with clients and technology providers.
FOW spoke to a number of market participants in the lead up to last week’s launch, with traders still speculating whether there is space in the market for a new player, and whether the initial fee-holiday would be enough to attract and keep customers trading. Read more: http://www.fow.com/3473647/Market-holds-breath-on-Nasdaq-NFX.html.html?Keywords=nfx