NASDAQ OMX Plans to Launch Retail Market for U.S. Equity Options

New Trading Platform to Target Retail Customer Orders With Access to Liquidity, Reliable Technology and Innovative Functionality

NEW ORLEANS, May 4, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) today announced at the Options Industry Conference that it will launch NASDAQ OMX BX Options^SM (BX Options^SM) in June 2012, pending SEC approval. BX Options^SM will reward retail customers who wish to access liquidity and provide market makers with additional opportunities to provide liquidity, initially with a price/time trading system.

BX Options^SM will complement the exchange group's established U.S. options venues with unique enhancements that include a hybrid allocation model, directed order flow for market participants and a new multi-faceted price improvement auction. Additionally, customers utilizing the new market will benefit from innovations known to both NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) and the NASDAQ Options Market (NOM) like microsecond trading speeds, bulk quoting, rapid fire risk protection and low latency protocols. In order to facilitate an inexpensive and easy connection for options trading customers, BX Options^SM will leverage the same architecture, data center and world-class INET technology as other NASDAQ OMX platforms.

Tom Wittman, Senior Vice President and Head of U.S. Options at NASDAQ OMX, said: "Our new platform will be a home for retail order flow that is transparent and it will complement PHLX and NOM, giving our customers a complete liquidity destination for options trading."

Eric Noll, Executive Vice President of Transaction Services U.S. and U.K. at NASDAQ OMX, said: "NASDAQ OMX will continue to strengthen its competitive offering in the derivatives space not only with cutting-edge trading tools that service the full cycle of a trade, but also with inventive market structure that provides true price discovery for an underserved segment of investors."

NASDAQ OMX will give market participants the ability to choose from three different market models for U.S. equity options trading. BX Options^SM will reward retail customers for accessing liquidity with innovative structure and functionality, PHLX will offer electronic and floor-based trading with a traditional allocation model and NOM will provide investors a fully electronic market with a price/time allocation model. NASDAQ OMX will continue to leverage the speed and efficiency of its core INET technology across all exchanges.

NASDAQ OMX will utilize the options trading license from its 2007 acquisition of the former Boston Stock Exchange to launch BX Options^SM.

About NASDAQ OMX:

The inventor of the electronic exchange, The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc., fuels economies and provides transformative technologies for the entire lifecycle of a trade - from risk management to trade to surveillance to clearing. In the U.S. and Europe, we own and operate 24 markets, 3 clearinghouses and 5 central securities depositories supporting equities, options, fixed income, derivatives, commodities, futures and structured products. Able to process more than 1 million messages per second at sub-40 microsecond speeds with 99.999% uptime, our technology drives more than 70 marketplaces in 50 developed and emerging countries into the future, powering 1 in 10 of the world's securities transactions. Our award-winning data products and worldwide indexes are the benchmarks in the financial industry. Home to approximately 3,400 listed companies worth $5.1 trillion in market cap whose
innovations shape our world, we give the ideas of tomorrow access to capital today. Welcome to where the world takes a big leap forward, daily. Welcome to the NASDAQ OMX Century. To learn more, visit nasdaqomx.com. Follow us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/NASDAQ) and Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/nasdaqomx). (Symbol: NDAQ and member of S&P 500)

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

The matters described herein contain forward-looking statements that are made under the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements about BX Options^SM and NASDAQ OMX's other products and offerings. We caution that these statements are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties or other factors beyond NASDAQ OMX's control. These factors include, but are not limited to factors detailed in NASDAQ OMX's annual report on Form 10-K, and periodic reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation to release any revisions to any forward-looking statements.

NDAQG

CONTACT: NASDAQ OMX Media Contact:



Robert Madden

(347) 740-0191 (mobile)

[email protected]

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