Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and Nasdaq both run financial-market infrastructure and sell services beyond operating exchanges, but their portfolios are organized around different priorities. ICE combines exchanges, fixed-income services and data, and U.S. mortgage technology. Nasdaq groups its business into capital access, financial technology, and market services.
That makes the useful comparison broader than “which company runs which stock market?” The key differences are the businesses they report, the assets and workflows they serve, and the mix of transaction-based and recurring services. Their segment labels and revenue measures are not identical, so headline figures should not be treated as directly comparable.
How are ICE and Nasdaq businesses organized?
Each company reports three operating segments, but the categories describe different portfolios.
| Company | Reported segments | What the structure highlights |
|---|---|---|
| Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) | Exchanges; Fixed Income and Data Services; Mortgage Technology | Exchange activity across asset classes, fixed-income execution and data, and technology for the U.S. residential mortgage process. |
| Nasdaq | Capital Access Platforms; Financial Technology; Market Services | Listings and capital access, financial technology, and services for market operators and participants. |
These descriptions come from ICE’s FY2025 Form 10-K and Nasdaq’s FY2025 Form 10-K. Segment names are company reporting categories, not standardized industry definitions.
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What does ICE own and do beyond energy exchanges?
ICE’s reported Exchanges segment includes global futures markets, the New York Stock Exchange and other securities exchange activity, listings, and directly related data and connectivity. The company’s portfolio also reaches into fixed income and residential mortgages.
Exchanges and listings
ICE serves futures and securities markets. Its filing describes activity across energy, financial, agricultural, and other futures, alongside NYSE and other securities exchange operations. Exchanges revenue combines transaction-related activity with recurring data and listings revenue.
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Fixed income and data services
This segment includes fixed-income execution, credit-default-swap clearing, data and analytics, and multi-asset data and network services. It therefore serves workflows that are not limited to trading on an exchange.
Mortgage technology
ICE’s Mortgage Technology segment provides digital workflow technology for the U.S. residential mortgage process. That makes ICE more than an exchange operator or market-data provider: its reported businesses also support mortgage-industry workflows.
What does Nasdaq emphasize?
Nasdaq’s Capital Access Platforms segment includes data and listing services, indexes, and workflow and insights offerings. Its Financial Technology and Market Services segments extend the company into financial technology and technology and services supplied to market operators. The company’s segment structure therefore foregrounds capital formation and technology alongside market services, rather than ICE’s explicit combination of exchanges, fixed income, and mortgage technology.
This is a comparison of the portfolios described in the companies’ FY2025 filings; it does not mean Nasdaq has no exchange operations or that ICE has no technology and data services. Both companies have overlapping roles in market infrastructure, but their reporting categories and areas of emphasis differ.
How do ICE and Nasdaq make money?
Both have revenue sources that extend beyond fees tied to trading transactions. ICE describes a mix of transaction revenues and recurring data and listings revenues in Exchanges, and recurring data offerings also form part of Fixed Income and Data Services. Nasdaq’s reported portfolio includes listings, data, index, workflow, insights, and financial technology offerings as well as Market Services.
The distinction matters because transaction activity and recurring services do not respond to the same customer needs or business conditions. However, the available segment descriptions do not establish a like-for-like split of recurring and transaction revenue across the two companies. Do not infer an apples-to-apples comparison from the segment names alone.
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What do ICE’s reported 2025 figures show?
ICE reported $5.4 billion in Exchanges revenue less transaction-based expenses for fiscal 2025; that represented 55% of the same consolidated measure. It reported $2.4 billion in Fixed Income and Data Services revenue for fiscal 2025. Separately, ICE’s 2025 shareholder letter reported $9.9 billion in consolidated net revenue.
Those figures use different accounting labels, and ICE’s Exchanges figure is explicitly revenue less transaction-based expenses. They are useful for understanding the scale and composition of ICE’s own reported business, not as a standalone measure of whether ICE is larger than Nasdaq. ICE’s filing also said its venues included 13 regulated exchanges and six clearing houses in 2025; ICE Clear Credit is reported in Fixed Income and Data Services, despite being included in that venue and clearing-house description.
Which is the better description: two stock exchanges or two infrastructure companies?
“Two stock exchanges” is too narrow. ICE and Nasdaq both operate exchanges, but their businesses also include data, technology, and services supporting other financial workflows. ICE’s disclosed portfolio particularly brings together energy and other futures, NYSE and securities activity, fixed-income services, and U.S. mortgage technology. Nasdaq’s segment descriptions emphasize listings and capital access, financial technology, and market services.
ICE Chair and CEO Jeff Sprecher described ICE’s model in the 2025 shareholder letter as a diversified “all-weather” business model. That is management’s characterization, not an independent assessment of the company’s resilience. The comparison here explains business composition; it is not a stock recommendation or individualized investment advice.
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