The US exchange operator on Thursday said revenue for the three months to the end of March rose 14% year on year, or 13% on an organic basis, reflecting broad-based growth across its divisions.

“Nasdaq delivered one of the strongest starts to the year in our company’s history with broad-based growth across all three divisions,” said Adena Friedman, chair and chief executive of Nasdaq, speaking on a results call. “Our clients are increasingly turning to Nasdaq as a trusted transformation partner to modernize their core infrastructure, manage risk and increasing complexity, adapt to the evolution of capital markets, and integrate AI to drive greater efficiency in their operations.”

Financial technology drives performance

Solutions revenue rose 14% to $1.1bn, supported by continued momentum in Nasdaq’s financial technology segment.

Financial technology revenue increased 20% year on year, reflecting strong demand for cloud-based and AI-enabled services. Annualised recurring revenue rose 13% to $3.2bn, with software-as-a-service accounting for 38% of the total.

Friedman said: “We delivered the highest Q1 organic growth since 2021 across net revenue solutions, revenue and operating income, as well as our highest ever quarterly revenue growth in the financial technology division.”

Nasdaq said it recorded strong contract value bookings in the quarter, with cloud solutions representing around 80% of new business.

Sarah Youngwood, executive vice president and chief financial officer, said: “Nasdaq delivered exceptional first quarter performance with double-digit growth across our three divisions and particular strength in Financial Technology. The mission critical nature of our solutions combined with our execution excellence is helping Nasdaq deliver operating leverage with strong earnings growth.”

Trading and index revenues expand

Market services net revenue increased 13% to $317m, supported by elevated trading volumes and product innovation. The exchange reported record activity in US cash equities and equity options.

Index revenue rose 14% to $220m, with net inflows of $6bn in the quarter and $79bn over the past 12 months.

Friedman said: “Our index franchise delivered $79 billion in netinflows over the last 12 months, including $6 billion in the quarter. We are encouraged by the momentum we've seen to date in the second quarter, with $15 billion of net exchange traded product (ETP) inflows as of April 20.”

Nasdaq launched 31 new index products during the quarter.

Friedman added: “We will expand access to the Nasdaq 100 later in the spring, with two new carefully selected partners, BlackRock and State Street, while continuing to work closely with our long standing partner Invesco.”

The group also maintained a strong position in listings, capturing 71% of eligible US operating company IPOs during the period.

Innovation and market structure

Nasdaq continued to invest in market structure initiatives, including extended trading hours and tokenisation.

Friedman said: “Within capital markets, we're experiencing demand for solutions and services related to the transition to always on markets and the tokenisation of assets.”

The exchange said the US Securities and Exchange Commission has approved its proposals to enable tokenised equity settlement and to extend trading hours to 23 hours a day, five days a week, with launch planned for December.

AI and data strategy

The exchange pointed to growing adoption of AI across its platform, including in financial crime, regulatory technology and analytics.

Friedman said: “The results this quarter demonstrate the breadth and depth of the client engagement we are experiencing across our platform, which is resulting in meaningful growth.”

The exchange said it remains focused on investing in technology and expanding its product offering as markets continue to evolve.

Earlier in the month, Nasdaq reported 0.4 billion contracts traded last month across US equity options and European derivatives segments, compared to 0.33 billion contracts in the previous corresponding period. Nasdaq also reported significant growth in derivatives trading volume in February, driven by the booming US equity options market.

In January, the New York-based trading venue reported 21% year-on-year growth in its overall derivatives trading volumes for the year 2025, driven by strong performance in US single stock options and derivatives tracking its benchmark indices.

This week, multiple exchanges reported strong first-quarter performance. CME Group posted record revenue and volumes, underscoring robust global demand for derivatives and risk management tools, while London Stock Exchange Group reported record revenue driven by elevated trading activity and continued demand for data and analytics services.