Through NFX, Nasdaq will expand its commodities business with futures and options on key energy benchmarks including oil, natural gas and U.S. power, which will launch in 2015. Market participants will be able to manage their trading and hedging needs in a cost-efficient manner, using an innovative horizontal clearing solution operated by The Options Clearing Corporation.

"We are dedicated to evolving our Electronic Execution offering and look forward to providing sophisticated and powerful connectivity solutions to the exchange traded derivatives space," said Martin Nilsson, Head of Product Management, Orc Group. "We are always looking for new opportunities for our clients and are happy to support Nasdaq's new endeavor for energy contracts."

Orc believes the key to staying competitive is robust low latency access to trading venues, and provides fast, reliable market access to over 150 exchanges, broker and alternative liquidity pools in the critical areas of execution, market data and reference data.

"Our cooperation with key trading software vendors like Orc is instrumental to our efforts to provide energy market participants across the world with innovative trading tools," said Magnus Haglind, Chief Executive Officer of Nasdaq Futures. "Orc offers highly efficient tools for the execution of trading strategies, and our new suite of energy benchmark products will further enable trading firms to invest in commodities in a more cost-efficient manner."

Nasdaq's Global Commodities business offers trading and clearing solutions for various related assets including power, natural gas and carbon emission markets, tanker and dry cargo freight, fuel oil, seafood derivatives, iron ore, electricity certificates and clearing services. With market makers, liquidity providers and competitive fees, Nasdaq provides a liquid, transparent and efficient marketplace, which appeals to all types of trading entities.