What Nasdaq, Inc. told the SEC could break it.

With operations in the U.S., Nordic/Baltic countries, Canada, the U.K., Australia, and elsewhere, Nasdaq has significant exposure to exchange-rate movements between the Euro, Swedish Krona, Canadian dollar, and other currencies against the U.S. dollar.

“Because we have operations in numerous countries, we are exposed to currency risk. We have operations in the U.S., the Nordic and Baltic countries, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and many other foreign countries. We therefore have significant exposure to exchange rate movements between the Euro, Swedish Krona, the Canadian dollar and other foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar.”

Nasdaq's operations are heavily concentrated in the U.S. east coast, Stockholm, Vilnius, and St. John, Canada, and its prominence makes it a likelier target for malicious disruption or physical attacks; an event hitting those areas could impair operations.

“In addition, our business operations are heavily concentrated in the east coast of the U.S.; Stockholm, Sweden; Vilnius, Lithuania; and St. John, Canada, among other locations. Any event that impacts either of those geographic areas could potentially affect our ability to operate our businesses.”

In November 2025 the European Commission opened a formal antitrust investigation into whether Nasdaq and Deutsche Börse coordinated conduct in EEA listing, trading and clearing of financial derivatives; duration, outcome, and potential fines are uncertain.

“In November 2025, the EC opened a formal antitrust investigation to assess whether Nasdaq and Deutsche Borse had breached European Union competition rules by coordinating their conduct in the sector for listing, trading and clearing of financial derivatives in the European Economic Area. We have been cooperating with the EC but are uncertain about the duration or ultimate outcome of its review, or to the extent there is any finding against us, the amount of any fines or other remedies.”

As a central counterparty, Nasdaq Clearing is exposed to clearing-member defaults; its power of assessment to cover a defaulter's remaining obligations corresponds to 230% of the member's aggregate default-fund contribution under the liability waterfall.

“to cover a defaulting member's remaining obligations up to the limits established under the terms of the clearinghouse rules. The power of assessment corresponds to 230 % of the clearing member's aggregate contribution to the financial and commodities markets' default funds.”

A July 2025 Court of Appeals decision vacated the CAT funding model (stay expired end of November 2025), so Nasdaq may face delay or inability to recover CAT-related expenses, with a $99 million net receivable outstanding.

“As a result, we may be subject to a delay in recovering expenses or be unable to recover those expenses. The SROs have yet to seek reimbursement for a portion of their expenses related to delivery of certain technology. If the SEC determines that we failed to timely or properly deliver the technology, we may forfeit recovery of an undetermined portion of those expenses. As of December 31, 2025, we have an outstanding net receivable of $99 million in connection with our portion of expenses related to the CAT implementation.”