SEC clears Nasdaq proposal for prediction market options tied to benchmark index

The SEC granted accelerated approval to Nasdaq MRX to list and trade cash-settled, binary "Outcome-Related Options" (OROs) tied to the Nasdaq-100 and its Micro index, clearing a regulatory hurdle for exchange-traded prediction-style contracts. Each contract offers a fixed $100 all-or-nothing payout if it expires in the money. The move legitimizes prediction-market-style instruments on a regulated U.S. exchange, could create new fee and trading-volume opportunities for exchanges and market makers, and may draw competitors — Cboe is pursuing a similar product for Q2 — into the space. For index and options markets, the products could attract retail and institutional flow, change hedging/speculative demand around key index thresholds, and prompt updates to risk models and liquidity provision for Nasdaq-related derivatives.