Nasdaq Buys LeveL Markets to Build an Institutional Bridge to Always-On Trading
The exchange operator will acquire a major U.S. alternative trading system and place it inside a new digital-liquidity unit focused on programmable, extended-hours markets.
Nasdaq has agreed to acquire LeveL Markets, one of the largest U.S. alternative trading systems, in a deal that gives its always-on market strategy an established institutional execution venue. Financial terms were not disclosed, and completion remains subject to regulatory approvals.
LeveL is not a speculative technology purchase. It processes hundreds of millions of shares a day, trades more than 7,000 symbols and reaches over 2,500 buy-side and sell-side clients. More than 300 institutional investment firms connect to the venue through at least 15 order and execution management systems. Nasdaq says LeveL's average daily volume grew 56% in 2025.
Those relationships are the strategic asset. Moving markets toward longer hours or continuous trading requires more than a matching engine. It requires broker connectivity, institutional order handling, surveillance, resilient operations and confidence that participant information remains protected. By buying an operating venue, Nasdaq adds these capabilities at scale rather than trying to assemble them from scratch.
After closing, LeveL will sit within a newly formed Digital Liquidity Networks organization led by Roland Chai, who has directed Nasdaq's European Market Services business and its digital-assets strategy. The new unit will combine liquidity platforms, tokenization capabilities and financial technology serving digital markets. Nikolaj Kosakewitsch will succeed Chai as head of European Market Services.
Nasdaq is also preserving structural separation. LeveL will remain a FINRA-regulated alternative trading system with its own management team, participant confidentiality and operational controls. That is important because an off-exchange venue depends on trust that order information will not be misused elsewhere in a larger market group. It also limits the assumption that the acquisition will immediately fuse LeveL with Nasdaq's public exchange.
The language around always-on markets points to a broader convergence. Crypto markets established investor expectations for continuous access, while retail brokers have expanded overnight trading in U.S. equities. Tokenized securities add another potential route to extended settlement and programmable ownership. Traditional venues, however, must move within securities law, best-execution rules, market-data obligations and operational resilience standards that do not disappear when trading hours expand.
LeveL gives Nasdaq a practical laboratory for that transition. An alternative trading system can support new execution models while remaining connected to the existing equity ecosystem. The acquisition may also help Nasdaq coordinate liquidity across public markets, private venues and future tokenized instruments without assuming that every asset will migrate to a public blockchain.
There are meaningful uncertainties. Nasdaq has not disclosed the price, expected financial contribution or timetable beyond the need to satisfy customary closing conditions. Regulators will examine competition, information barriers, cybersecurity and whether LeveL's compliance systems can be integrated without weakening its independence. Extended-hours markets can also fragment liquidity and produce wider spreads when participation is thin.
For brokers and asset managers, the deal suggests that continuous markets will be built through a combination of familiar regulated venues and new digital infrastructure. For other exchange groups, it raises the strategic value of institutional alternative trading systems that already have distribution. For tokenization companies, it is a reminder that issuance technology is only one component of a functioning market. Execution quality, connectivity and supervision remain decisive.
Why it matters
Nasdaq is putting an established institutional venue at the center of its digital-market strategy. That shifts the conversation from demonstrations of 24-hour trading toward the harder work of connecting real liquidity, regulated participants and operational controls.
The transaction does not create an always-on securities market overnight. It does give Nasdaq a scaled platform from which to test that future, while keeping the acquired venue inside the existing U.S. regulatory perimeter.