(Source: PrimeNewswire)
NEW YORK, Oct. 22, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:NDAQ) announced today that NASDAQ OMX Futures Exchange (NFX), the exchange's U.S. based futures market, has partnered with IKON Global Markets, a leading global Futures Commission Merchant. IKON became the first futures broker to offer client access to NFX's World Currency Futures products (WCF), effective immediately. NFX's WCF products include: the Australian dollar (AD9), British pound (BP9), Canadian dollar (CA9), Colombian Peso (CP9), Euro dollar (EU9), Japanese Yen (JY9), and the Swiss franc (SF9).
As a result of this partnership, customers will be able to utilize the IKON trading application to see live NFX market prices and enter buy/sell orders. NFX offers trading on seven currencies, all of which are retail-sized (approximate notional value is $10,000) and are cash settled in U.S. dollars. WCFs are an exact hedge for World Currency Options (securities options) which trade on NASDAQ OMX PHLX.
"NFX's product development efforts in Dec. 2008 focused mainly on listing new interest-rate swap futures through our partnership with IDCG and since then we have focused on furthering our strategy of leveraging our superior NASDAQ OMX trading technology while bringing new products to market on an efficient futures trading platform," commented Ben Craig, President of NASDAQ OMX Futures Exchange. "Today's announcement with IKON further strengthens our offering of retail FX products in a fully electronic environment. We are delighted to kick-off this collaboration with a global player in the futures industry like IKON," he added.
Diwakar Jagannath, CEO of IKON Global Markets, said, "NASDAQ OMX Futures Exchange has successfully developed and operated the World Currency Options platform with great speed and efficiency and we look forward to collaborating in their success with the World Currency Futures product. We enjoy working with the NFX team to add market depth, liquidity and our capabilities to clients and look forward to our joint efforts to develop new products and bring new participants to the exchange," he added.
NFX is engaged with IKON in collaborative business efforts to deliver broader trading opportunities to the global futures trading community. The NFX, formerly known as the Philadelphia Board of Trade, is a designated contract market under CFTC jurisdiction. It currently lists 10 futures products; including interest rate swap futures, currency futures and sector index futures for trading.
