Nasdaq President and CEO Adena Friedman talked about 2020 derivatives market trends at FIA's virtual expo conference on 10 November, expressing enthusiasm over the rise of retail trading and pride in the resilience of financial markets during times of stress this year. She also previewed some of Nasdaq's technology and product plans for the future.
In a one-on-one with FIA President and CEO Walt Lukken, Friedman said "we should be proud of the entire financial markets system" and how everyone responded to "incredible levels of stress." She credited big investments in technology and business continuity planning for both Nasdaq's individual resilience as well as the strength of derivatives markets generally.
Friedman also noted that she was happy to see so many new entrants into markets, including options markets as well as stocks, as it shows how accessible the modern marketplace has become. "Our fundamental mission as a market operator is to minimize friction and maximize investor access," Friedman said, stressing that Nasdaq has launched a host of educational efforts to help ensure those new entrants stick and remain long-term participants markets.
Looking forward, Friedman said that 2020 has provided many lessons on what the future of Nasdaq's operations might look like. On the technology side she pointed to two particular areas for focus for her company: machine learning as a way to act intelligently on data, and cloud computing as a way to reduce infrastructure costs and add resiliency. She also pointed to continued new product innovation, including the recent launch of Micro E-Mini Nasdaq 100 futures contract now trading on CME as well as several ESG-related products and services.
Nasdaq's Adena Friedman was just one of the exchange leaders scheduled to speak as part of FIA's virtual Expo conference. FIA also will conduct interviews with Terry Duffy of CME Group, Michael Peters of Eurex, Jeff Sprecher of Intercontinental Exchange and Edward Tilly of Cboe. For a full list of conference programming, visit FIA.org/expo.
