The International Securities Exchange (ISE) announced today that it has launched options trading on the NASDAQ Q-50 IndexSM (Ticker: NXTQ), a benchmark that tracks the 50 non-financial securities that next qualify for inclusion in the NASDAQ-100 Index. The NASDAQ-100 Index comprises the 100 largest domestic and international non-financial securities listed on The NASDAQ Stock Market® based on market capitalization. Options trading on the NASDAQ Q-50 Index began trading on ISE on December 23, 2008. Timber Hill LLC serves as the Primary Market Maker for this new product.
"We are excited to partner with NASDAQ to provide investors with the ability to trade options on a diverse basket of the fastest growing non-financial companies listed on The NASDAQ Stock Market," said Kris Monaco, director of New Product Development at ISE. "This new product will allow ISE’s customers to trade their views on some of the most closely watched securities listed on NASDAQ’s marketplace."
"Our partnership with ISE will give investors who use the NASDAQ Q-50 Index in their portfolios the additional flexibility of incorporating options into their trading strategies," said John Jacobs, executive vice president, NASDAQ OMX Global Index Group. "We are very pleased to work with ISE to expand the reach of our proprietary index products."
