Nasdaq Inc

Tradeweb Markets reported second-quarter revenues of $558.9 million, up 9% year on year, in line with analysts' expectations, as the ten financial exchanges and data stocks tracked by the report beat consensus revenue estimates by 1.6% as a group. Tradeweb, which was founded in 1996 as one of the pioneers in electronic bond trading, posted a decent beat of analysts' EBITDA estimates, but the market seemed disappointed and the stock is down 5.6% since reporting, currently trading at $102.07. Among peers, Morningstar was the strongest performer with revenues of $663.2 million, up 9.6% year on year and 2.2% above expectations, while S&P Global was the weakest, reporting revenues of $4.15 billion, up 10.4% year on year and 1% above expectations, but posting a significant miss of analysts' EBITDA estimates and full-year EPS guidance slightly missing expectations, with its stock down 7.9% since the results. FactSet reported revenues of $622.9 million, up 6.4% year on year and 1.1% above expectations, and Nasdaq reported revenues of $1.5 billion, up 14.9% year on year and 3% above expectations. Share prices of the companies in the group have held steady, up 3.6% on average since the latest earnings results.

Bitget, a global cryptocurrency exchange platform and Web3 company, said Bitcoin has continued to hold above support at $75,000, even after the US Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC, voted to raise interest rates for the first time in three years, by 0.25%, and signalled further hikes this year. Meanwhile, the CLARITY Act failed to win approval in the US Senate. Ms. Gracie Chen, Managing Director of Bitget, said that Donald Trump's move to direct the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission to issue crypto regulations on their own without relying on congressional mechanisms has helped ease disappointment over the CLARITY Act to some degree. The trend of divesting dollar holdings remains the main factor driving investors worldwide toward both gold and Bitcoin. AI-related technology stocks continued to deliver strong returns this week, after the market's concerns eased over major AI model providers SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic slowing development of new models. Marking its eighth anniversary, Bitget is preparing a full-scale push into the institutional client market. In the second quarter of 2026, the net asset value of its institutional clients grew 45% compared with the previous year, and it has most recently become the first crypto trading platform to bring official market data from the Nasdaq stock exchange directly into its US equities-related infrastructure.

Bitget, a leading global cryptocurrency exchange and Web3 company, has announced a full-scale push into the institutional client market on the occasion of its 8th anniversary, while continuing to focus on its Universal Exchange, or UEX, strategy to bring traditional finance investment products onto the platform for trading. Ms. Gracy Chen, the company's Managing Director, said this step marks a shift from challenger to innovator in the cryptocurrency world. Most recently, the company became the first cryptocurrency platform to bring official market data from the Nasdaq stock exchange directly into its infrastructure related to US equities, enabling institutional investors to use the data as input for high-volume trading, automated strategy development, and efficient risk management. This reflects success from institutional client net asset value in the second quarter of 2026, which grew by 45% compared with the same period a year earlier.

Nasdaq and Payward, the parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, announced on September 10, 2026 an expansion of their partnership on tokenized equities, built on three pillars: a $100 million investment by Nasdaq Ventures, continued work by both companies on the framework for Nasdaq Equity Token, or NET, and a market surveillance agreement. NET is a tokenized equity designed with the involvement of listed companies themselves, and its launch is planned for the second quarter of 2027. Payward will use the xStocks mechanism to make NET available on public blockchains, will handle trade settlement in eligible countries for an initial period, and its B2B unit Payward Services will take charge of user identity verification and anti-money-laundering measures. As of September 2026, xStocks covered 715 tickers, with cumulative trading volume rising from more than $25 billion as of March 2026 to more than $40 billion as of September 1, while holders grew from more than 85,000 to more than 200,000. Holders, however, do not have shareholder rights and are not entitled to voting rights or dividends. Nasdaq's rule change for tokenized trading, filed in September 2025, was approved by the SEC on March 18, 2026, and DTC's service is scheduled to begin in October 2026.

Anthropic expects to post positive adjusted operating income for a second consecutive quarter, the Financial Times reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter. The Claude maker shared the outlook with a small group of shareholders as it moves closer to a potential public listing, and the measure excludes costs including stock-based compensation. Anthropic recorded an adjusted operating profit in the second quarter after revenue jumped 14-fold from a year earlier to $11.5B, with gross margins above 80% before accounting for revenue shared with distribution partners including Amazon and the cost of training its models. Its annualized revenue reached $65B at the end of July, up from $9B at the end of last year, and investors expect it to reach $120B by year-end. Anthropic has selected Nasdaq for a potential IPO that could value the company at $2T or more, although it has not yet publicly filed a prospectus.

Anthropic has reportedly selected Nasdaq as the venue for its planned initial public offering and has told a small group of investors it expects positive adjusted operating income for a second straight quarter. The Claude maker is targeting an October listing on Nasdaq, according to Business Insider, a move that would also make it eligible for inclusion in the Nasdaq 100 Index. The IPO could value Anthropic at $2 trillion or more, surpassing the $1.75 trillion valuation of Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp. listing in June, while its Series H funding round in May valued the company at $965 billion. The company expects gross margins above 80% before accounting for revenue shared with distribution partners like Amazon.com Inc. and the cost of training its models, according to a Financial Times report, which added that Anthropic shared documents with a small group of investors before making its filing public. Revenue rose roughly 14-fold year over year in the second quarter to $11.5 billion, with annualized revenue reaching $65 billion by the end of July, up from $9 billion at the end of last year, and investors forecast Anthropic will end the year with $120 billion in annualized revenue.

Nasdaq, NYSE Arca and Cboe EDGX plan to extend US equities trading to 23 hours a day, five days a week beginning Dec. 6, subject to final SEC approval. Seeking Alpha analysts Luca Socci and Jack Bowman weighed the pros and cons of near-continuous trading. Socci said the shift toward a 24-hour market is a matter of when, not if, arguing that more activity will be regulated and exchange structures will improve, that non-US residents will see the time-zone mismatch reduced, and that price discovery could become more continuous, narrowing gaps at the opening bell. He cautioned that longer hours do not necessarily mean more liquidity and that companies will have to figure out how to release earnings while the market is open, noting Berkshire's Saturday reporting strategy could find followers. Bowman said the main benefit for retail investors is no longer being bound to traditional market hours, but warned overnight demand is thin outside institutions and that spreading liquidity across 23 hours will fragment it further. Both flagged exchanges as beneficiaries, with Socci naming Cboe Global Markets, Nasdaq, Intercontinental Exchange, Equinix, Digital Realty Trust, Broadridge Financial Solutions and Virtu Financial, while Bowman cited Nasdaq, the NYSE, Cboe Global Markets and CME, expecting derivatives volume to rise as cross-security hedging becomes more viable.

Pawaritsaworn Phuriwetchayuthakarn of Kiatnakin Phatra Securities, or KKPS, shared his views on the stage at ASCO x Nasdaq InnovAsia Bangkok 2026, saying that digital investment platforms have broken down investment barriers, expanding access to the US stock market from institutional investors to a broad base of retail investors. This is reflected in the Dime! application, which has accumulated more than 5 million downloads within four years, and in the growing popularity of depositary receipts on foreign securities, or DRs, whose trading value has grown tenfold since 2023. KKPS assesses that Nasdaq's extension of trading hours to a 23/5 model will be a key catalyst changing the investment behavior of Asian investors, shifting from having to wait for the regular US market open to trading during hours that fit their daily lives, and making the process of discovering fair prices during Asian stock market hours more transparent and more reliably reflective of genuine trading demand. Pawaritsaworn said that entering the 23/5 era does not simply mean adding trading hours; it comes with conditions that service providers and investors must prepare for, including system stability, management of maintenance shutdown periods, and most importantly, investor education, since the timing of order submission may affect settlement and delivery dates, as well as liquidity that may decline and price volatility that may rise at certain times. The Kiatnakin Phatra financial business group has prepared both its operating systems and its communication channels to lead Thai retail investors into the 23/5 era of the global capital market with confidence and safety.

Nasdaq has announced the acquisition of Dasseti to expand AI-driven capabilities within its eVestment platform and deepen its coverage of private markets. The deal is intended to help asset managers and institutional investors streamline data collection and due diligence workflows. In a separate move, Nasdaq Verafin entered a new partnership with Alloy focused on using data and AI to improve fraud risk management for banks and other financial institutions. These actions highlight Nasdaq's focus on technology solutions that support both institutional investment workflows and financial crime prevention.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand and the Singapore Exchange are accelerating rule changes to attract technology companies and new-economy businesses to list, amid an AI wave that is reshaping capital market competition in Southeast Asia. The Stock Exchange of Thailand is preparing to relax the minimum market capitalisation requirement from 7.5 billion baht to 3 to 5 billion baht for main board listings, and to remove the requirement for foreign companies to demonstrate participation in driving the Thai economy. Meanwhile, the Singapore Exchange has set up a Global Listing Board platform with Nasdaq to attract technology companies seeking dual listings, requiring a minimum market capitalisation of at least 2 billion Singapore dollars, and launched Singapore Depository Receipts for investing in SpaceX, Grab, and Sea shares in the first half of this year. In the first half of this year, the Stock Exchange of Thailand had only one IPO, raising 10.4 million dollars, while Singapore had five companies raising 1.05 billion dollars. The Asia-Pacific region had 247 IPOs raising 47 billion dollars. The Singapore Exchange disclosed that around 50 companies are in the IPO preparation stage, and the Stock Exchange of Thailand expects at least 18 new listings this year.

President Donald Trump said Michael Selig, chairman of the CFTC, is working to bring perpetuals trading platforms such as Hyperliquid into the United States in a fully lawful and compliant manner. Speaking at a joint press conference with technology leaders and heads of federal agencies on Wednesday, Trump said Selig is working to bring perpetual futures markets into the country. The CFTC previously approved KalshiEX and Coinbase to list bitcoin perpetuals in the US for the first time. JPMorgan analysts said blockchain-based perpetual platforms such as Hyperliquid have surged in popularity because non-crypto traders are turning to 24-hour markets to access certain assets such as oil outside traditional market hours. Traditional exchanges such as CME and ICE are concerned that such platforms could be used to manipulate prices and distort markets, and want them to register with the CFTC, according to a Bloomberg report. After the press conference, Hyperliquid's HYPE token rose 17% over the past 24 hours, according to price data from The Block, while the 21Shares Hyperliquid ETF, Bitwise Hyperliquid ETF and Grayscale Hyperliquid Staking ETF rose nearly 20% in Wednesday's session. Hyperliquid Strategies, listed on Nasdaq, rose 30.4% on the same day. Trump also called on members of Congress to pass the Clarity Act, a broad cryptocurrency bill that would provide comprehensive federal oversight of the industry for the first time, describing it as a very structured and powerful law that would help the United States stay ahead of China and all other countries.

MSCI reported second-quarter revenues of $867 million, up 12.2% year over year, in line with analyst expectations but marking the weakest performance against estimates among its peers. The stock has fallen 8.5% since the report and currently trades at $572.27. Among the ten financial exchanges and data stocks tracked, Morningstar posted the best quarter with revenues of $663.2 million, up 9.6% and beating estimates by 2.2%, while S&P Global was the weakest with revenues of $4.15 billion, up 10.4% but issuing full-year EPS guidance slightly below expectations. Nasdaq and Moody's also beat estimates, with Moody's achieving the biggest beat and fastest revenue growth of the group at 15.1%.

Five major online brokerages, including SBI Securities and Rakuten Securities, will make it possible to buy and sell US stocks during Japan's daytime hours, Nikkei reported on the 12th. Behind this is the extension of trading hours in US stock markets. Nasdaq plans to extend trading to 23 hours on weekdays, with the SEC approving a rule change in April this year and a start scheduled for December 2026. Nasdaq's current trading hours are from 4 a.m. to 8 p.m. US Eastern Time, but overnight trading from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. the next morning will be added, and from Japan's perspective, this US nighttime falls exactly during the daytime. NYSE Arca, under the New York Stock Exchange, and the major US exchange Cboe are also moving in a similar direction, because US stocks are no longer a trading target only for Americans. In March this year, PayPay listed on the Nasdaq in the US. One of Japan's leading payment services chose a US stock market rather than Japan as its listing venue. Companies list in the US. Investors are in Japan. Smartphone apps connected the two.

Nasdaq has entered a definitive agreement to acquire all equity interests of LeveL Markets, a U.S. Alternative Trading System, and is creating a new Digital Liquidity Networks unit led by Roland Chai. The acquisition aims to broaden Nasdaq's institutional trading and always-on digital liquidity capabilities, reinforcing its shift toward being a core provider of market infrastructure and technology rather than just an exchange operator. The deal, along with a multi-year surveillance technology partnership with prediction markets operator Kalshi, adds proof points to the catalyst that product innovation and broadening use cases for Nasdaq's tech could drive its business mix over time. However, the impact on near-term results and the main risk around integrating acquisitions like Adenza is seen as incremental rather than transformational at this stage.

Nasdaq has agreed to buy LeveL Markets, one of the largest U.S. Alternative Trading Systems, as part of its strategy to build always-on markets. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. LeveL Markets processes hundreds of millions of shares daily and reaches more than 2,500 buy- and sell-side clients. Following the deal, LeveL Markets will operate within Nasdaq's newly formed Digital Liquidity Networks unit, led by Roland Chai, while maintaining its own management team and regulatory oversight. Nasdaq plans to invest further in LeveL's technology, client offering and long-term growth after closing, which is subject to customary conditions including regulatory approvals.

Kalshi, a major prediction market platform, has announced a multi-year partnership with Nasdaq to deploy its Market Surveillance system for round-the-clock, real-time trade monitoring. The system will work alongside Kalshi's existing surveillance tools to enhance detection of abnormal behavior, market manipulation, and insider trading amid mounting regulatory pressure. The deal follows several suspected insider trading incidents on Kalshi, including a 35,000-dollar fine imposed by the CFTC on former Congressman George Santos and an investigation into White House officials potentially trading on inside information. Nasdaq's system, used by over 50 exchanges and 20 regulators worldwide, will enable Kalshi to submit trade data to the CFTC as required and boost transparency in the rapidly growing prediction market.

Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan expressed the view that the impact on the cryptocurrency market will be limited even if the comprehensive crypto regulation bill known as the Clarity Act fails to pass this week. The U.S. Senate faced the deadline for a cloture motion on the bill on August 5, and its probability of passage on prediction market Polymarket has plunged from 82 percent in February to 27 percent. Hougan argues that regulatory development will proceed even without congressional action, citing SEC Chair Paul Atkins' statement that he is prepared to independently craft rules addressing similar issues. He stressed that the institutionalization of crypto will not reverse, noting that BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF has demonstrated high profitability, and Nasdaq and JPMorgan are actively pursuing asset tokenization.

Nasdaq has drawn investor attention after reporting second quarter 2026 results, a fresh quarterly dividend declaration, a completed multi-year share repurchase program, and resolution of a long-running patent dispute. The stock’s most followed valuation narrative points to a fair value of $110.07 against a last close of $94.19, suggesting it may be 14.4% undervalued. Bullish analysts highlight accelerating Solutions execution and AI platform use as reasons to raise outer-year EPS estimates. However, a discounted cash flow model from Simply Wall St indicates a fair value of $88.49, which would screen as overvalued. The stock has returned 98.50% over three years but only 0.22% over the past year, with an 11.26% one-month gain and a 2.56% year-to-date decline.

Nasdaq and Miami International Holdings have resolved a multi-year patent dispute that began in 2017, with a court dismissing all related claims and confirming Miami International Holdings can operate and develop exchanges without restriction. The dismissal with prejudice removes the risk of ongoing or renewed litigation on these specific claims, clearing a long-running legal overhang for Nasdaq. The outcome addresses questions around technology rights and market access between the two exchange groups, though it also shows that parts of Nasdaq's patent portfolio can be challenged successfully. With this dispute closed, Nasdaq can focus more fully on its exchange and technology platforms without allocating management time or legal budget to the case.

Nasdaq reported second-quarter revenue of $1.5 billion, a 14.9% year-on-year increase that beat analyst estimates by 3%, while adjusted earnings per share of $1.07 exceeded expectations by 8.8%. During the earnings call, CEO Adena Friedman addressed analyst questions on AI monetization, describing a strategy that embeds AI into core products and offers premium upsell modules with rapid client conversion from free to paid. Friedman also noted that Trade Management Services growth was driven by demand for connectivity and trading power from both new and existing clients, aided by a pricing increase, rather than by generative AI. On the IPO pipeline, she emphasized a broadening mix of listings beyond megadeals, with notable strength in AI, healthcare, and defense sectors. Additionally, Friedman discussed Nasdaq's openness to expanding partnerships in perpetual derivatives and outlined future monetization of tokenized collateral through new product modules and network effects.

Nasdaq has resolved its nearly decade-long litigation with Miami International Holdings, with all claims and counterclaims dismissed, and is selling its fund secondaries business to its former affiliate, Nasdaq Private Market. The stock trades around $90.42, up 9.6% over the past 30 days but down 6.5% year to date and 2.1% over the past year, while showing a 55.6% gain over five years and an 87.4% return over three years. The litigation resolution removes a legal overhang and the sale simplifies Nasdaq's private markets exposure, potentially influencing capital allocation and management focus. Investors may watch for any discussion of proceeds use and how the refocused business mix affects revenue and profit contributions.

Nasdaq, the US exchange operator, reported second-quarter results that beat market expectations, with adjusted earnings per share of $1.07 compared to the forecast of $0.98, driven by strong performance in its data services business. Net revenue rose 15% to $1.5 billion, with the Capital Access Platforms division, which provides listing-related services and market data, up 19% to $621 million, the Financial Technology division up 16% to $539 million, and the Market Services division up 11% to $340 million. Major listings such as SpaceX and market volatility from US-Iran war and AI-related news boosted hedging demand, leading to higher trading volumes. Meanwhile, concerns that the CFTC's approval of perpetual futures for crypto assets could erode market share for existing exchanges have pushed Nasdaq shares down more than 6% year-to-date, but the CFO indicated the impact would be less than 1% of revenue.

Nasdaq delivered record second-quarter 2026 results, with net revenue reaching $1.5 billion, a 15% increase driven by double-digit growth across all three primary divisions. Solutions revenue rose 17% to $1.2 billion, and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share grew 25% to $1.07, exceeding $1.00 for the first time in the company's history. Index assets under management surpassed $1 trillion for the first time, fueled by record quarterly net inflows of $51 billion, while the company facilitated the largest initial public offering in history with SpaceX raising $86 billion on June 12. Annualized recurring revenue increased 12% organically to $3.3 billion, and the company updated its full-year non-GAAP operating expense guidance to a range of $2.530 billion to $2.570 billion, reflecting higher performance-linked compensation and marketing costs. Nasdaq also announced the acquisition of Dasseti, an AI-powered due diligence platform, and remains on track to launch 23/5 trading on December 6, 2026.

Nasdaq Private Market has acquired Nasdaq Fund Secondaries, the fund secondaries business of Nasdaq Inc., expanding its secondary liquidity platform to include both direct company shares and multi-asset fund stakes. The acquisition, announced on July 21, 2026, positions NPM to serve the full spectrum of private secondary liquidity demand from a single platform. Global secondary volume grew an estimated 53% in 2025 to roughly $233 billion, split almost evenly between LP-led and GP-led activity. The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, with terms undisclosed. NPM, which spun out of Nasdaq in 2021, has executed nearly $80 billion in secondary liquidity for over 200,000 individual eligible employee shareholders and investors across more than 1,000 company-sponsored liquidity programs.

Nasdaq Inc. has updated parent indices and methodologies for certain Xtrackers funds, shifting them to the Nasdaq Global Disruptive Technology Benchmark2 Index while maintaining a broadly consistent thematic approach. The company also announced a new Calypso technology partnership with the National Bank of Georgia, extending its fintech infrastructure to multiple Georgian banks. These moves underscore Nasdaq's push to grow fintech and index-services revenues, with expected improvements in Q2 2026 earnings providing a near-term catalyst. The core investment narrative remains tied to Nasdaq's ability to attract clients across exchanges, data, and financial technology, though risks persist around potential delays in large Financial Technology deals.

Nasdaq and the National Bank of Georgia have announced a landmark partnership to modernize treasury infrastructure across Georgia's banking sector, with five of the country's largest commercial banks adopting the Nasdaq Calypso platform under a shared, common infrastructure model. The five banks—Bank of Georgia, TBC Bank, Liberty Bank, Terabank, and Basisbank—collectively represent the majority of Georgia's commercial banking sector assets, which total nearly 38 billion dollars. The initiative operates under the Georgian Market Advancement Program and is coordinated with the Georgian Financial Markets Treasuries' Association, with project management funding provided by Japan through the Japan–EBRD Cooperation Fund. The platform will span the full front-to-back trade lifecycle and is designed to enhance risk management, regulatory oversight, and operational resilience while supporting Georgia's integration with international financial standards including ISO 20022.

DTCC, a major U.S. securities clearing and settlement firm, has begun limited live trading using tokenized equities and U.S. Treasuries. JPMorgan Chase converted a portion of its Invesco QQQ Trust holdings into token form, with the ability to revert them back to traditional securities, while preserving ownership and dividend rights. These assets are used for collateral transfers and repo transactions, leveraging DTCC's Hyperledger Besu infrastructure and the Canton Network. DTCC plans a full-scale launch in October 2026, with an industry working group that includes BlackRock, Morgan Stanley, and Nasdaq.

Nasdaq is drawing fresh interest from overseas companies considering U.S. listings following the high-profile American depositary receipt debut of SK Hynix on its exchange. Nasdaq executives report a surge in inquiries from international issuers after the SK Hynix IPO, which could broaden issuer diversity and create new fee opportunities across Nasdaq's listing and trading businesses. The stock currently trades at $88.08, up 4% over the past week but down 8.9% year to date. Analysts have a consensus target of $106.27, implying about 17% upside, while the stock's price-to-earnings ratio of 26.1 times compares to a capital markets industry average of 40.4 times. Sustained international IPO flows could strengthen Nasdaq's global standing and revenue mix, though high debt levels remain a noted risk.

Nasdaq has entered into a new Amended and Restated Credit Agreement, establishing a US$1.5 billion senior unsecured five-year revolving credit facility that replaces its prior arrangement and updates key financing terms. The stock recently traded at $88.08, while a widely followed narrative on Simply Wall St estimates a fair value of $106.53, suggesting the shares may be undervalued by about 17.3%. That narrative points to strategic investments in product innovation, international expansion, and new index business launches as drivers of sustained revenue growth. However, the valuation picture is mixed, as Nasdaq trades at 26.1 times earnings—below the US Capital Markets industry average of 40.4 times but above its own fair ratio of 17.1 times—indicating potential risk if sentiment shifts.

Nasdaq President Nelson Griggs said the blockbuster listing of SK Hynix is prompting other international companies to consider US initial public offerings or American depositary receipt sales. Griggs spoke after returning from a trip to Europe, noting that foreign issuers interested in the US market include both early-stage companies and established firms with existing local listings considering ADRs. The South Korean chipmaker raised $26.5 billion in the largest-ever US listing by a foreign company, with its ADRs rising almost 20% in intraday trading above the offering price. Griggs credited JPMorgan Chase for striking the right pricing balance, noting that the deal had to account for comparable US company Micron Technology. He added that SK Hynix Chairman Chey Tae-won's intention to monitor the ADRs' stability before considering a return to US capital markets is typical behavior for seasoned public companies.

Financial exchanges and data stocks reported a satisfactory first quarter, with aggregate revenues beating analyst consensus estimates by 1.1%. S&P Global posted revenues of $4.17 billion, up 10.4% year on year and exceeding expectations by 2.4%, though full-year EPS guidance slightly missed. Morningstar delivered the biggest beat among peers with revenues of $644.8 million, up 10.8% and topping estimates by 2.9%, while CME Group was the weakest performer, with revenues of $1.88 billion missing estimates by 1.4%. Nasdaq reported revenues of $1.41 billion, up 13.7% and beating by 2.2%, and MSCI posted revenues of $850.8 million, up 14.1% and beating by 1.4%. On average, share prices of the group are down 5.6% since the latest earnings results.

Retail investor anticipation of a SpaceX initial public offering has driven the busiest sustained month of interest in the Invesco QQQ Trust in six years, according to Invesco’s Paul Schroeder. QQQ and its sibling fund QQQM together control 27% of all U.S. large-cap growth ETF assets, making them the most logical vehicle for SpaceX exposure. A NASDAQ rule change in May eliminated the one-year seasoning requirement, allowing a company valued between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion to enter the Nasdaq 100 shortly after listing. Schroeder noted that the steady inbound curiosity over the past month contrasts with a 2023 busy period that lasted only about a week and a half. The frenzy reflects retail investors reverse-engineering index mechanics to gain pre-IPO exposure, though float-adjusted weighting means the effective index-weight market cap at listing will be a fraction of SpaceX’s headline valuation.