Nasdaq has reached a final agreement to acquire the remaining stake in Level Markets, the operator of the United States’ third-largest alternative trading system.

Fintech Futures reported on Aug. 13 that the share acquisition is part of Nasdaq’s “always-on” global market infrastructure strategy. The closing date and purchase price were not disclosed.

Level Markets operates a private dark pool that anonymously executes large stock block trades between institutional investors, rather than a public market such as Nasdaq’s main exchange. The structure does not expose large order sizes externally, helping prevent public market prices from swinging before trades are completed.

Level Markets’ alternative trading system trades more than 7,000 securities a day and, through links to more than 15 order and execution management systems, provides access to about 2,500 client firms. It also has about 300 institutional buy-side managers. The platform’s average daily trading volume last year rose 56 percent.

Level Markets was launched in 2006 as a joint venture involving a consortium of major financial institutions including Bank of America, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Fidelity.

Nasdaq first took a minority stake in Level Markets in 2021. Level Markets completed a merger in 2022 with Luminex Trading and Analytics, a buy-side block trading platform. In a company statement, Nasdaq said the acquisition of the remaining stake “will advance Nasdaq’s broader vision toward always-on markets.”

The acquisition also aligns with Nasdaq’s strategy to extend trading hours. Nasdaq submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission a proposal to expand trading hours for NMS stocks and exchange-traded products to 23 hours a day from 16 hours, and it was approved in April. Nasdaq had said it planned to complete preparations for implementation in early in the third quarter of 2026.

Level Markets will remain an independent legal entity after the acquisition is completed, and Steve Miele (스티브 미엘레), Level Markets’ chief executive officer, will continue to lead the company. Nasdaq will establish a Digital Liquidity Network division as the new organisation to take in the acquisition.

The division will also integrate Nasdaq’s existing tokenisation capabilities and digital asset technology solutions. Roland Chai (롤랜드 차이) will lead the organisation. He has led Nasdaq’s European Market Services organisation since 2023 and has also spearheaded Nasdaq’s digital asset strategy since early 2026.

The head of the European Market Services organisation will also be replaced immediately. Nikolaj Kosakewitsch (니콜라이 코사케비치), who has served as Nasdaq Copenhagen president since 2021, will succeed Roland Chai as head of European Market Services. Nasdaq said it will announce Kosakewitsch’s successor as Copenhagen president at a later date.

The deal has more the character of a market structure reshuffle than a simple exchange expansion. Nasdaq’s position is that it will tie together public exchanges, alternative trading systems, over-the-counter liquidity networks and tokenisation and digital asset technology into a single system to build a foundation suited to always-open markets. How Level Markets will be combined with existing Nasdaq infrastructure under the new division while keeping independent operations will be a point to watch after the acquisition is completed.