FCM Investment in ETD Clearing Technology Set to Grow

After years of heightened volatility, volumes and client expectations, futures commission merchants (FCMs) are reassessing the infrastructure that supports cleared derivatives markets. A new report from Nasdaq and Acuiti found that FCMs are increasingly focused on building resilient, scalable and integrated clearing workflows that can support faster processing, more transparent risk management and more responsive client services.

Key findings include:

• 69% of FCMs plan to increase post-trade investment over the next three years
• 46% of FCMs expect post-trade budgets to rise by more than 10%
• 53% of respondents cite reliance on legacy systems as a top operational pain point
• 56% of respondents say they risk falling behind competitors if they do not integrate AI or ML into derivatives technology workflows
• 67% of respondents cite resilience and reliability as a top factor when evaluating post-trade technology vendors

The message is clear: clearing technology is becoming a strategic capability for firms competing in increasingly complex financial markets.
 

The ETD market depends on clearing technology to support clearing and settlement, risk management, reporting, trade allocation, margin management and other critical post-trade functions. These capabilities sit at the center of how a clearing member delivers operational resilience, manages counterparty exposure and supports client execution across derivatives.

The survey suggests that firms are preparing for a new phase of modernization. Investment is being driven by a mix of efficiency, client demand and long-term infrastructure strategy.

Among FCMs increasing investment, the top drivers were:

• Increased automation: 64%
• Client demand for new functions: 50%
• Modernization: 43%
• Scalability: 39%
• Competitive differentiation: 29%
• Regulatory requirements: 25%
• Cost reduction: 21%

This is an important distinction. Investment is not being driven by a single pressure point. FCMs are responding to a combination of operational efficiency needs, client expectations, regulatory complexity and the need for infrastructure that can adapt over time. In this environment, the clearing process is becoming a leadership issue as much as a technology issue.
 

While the industry has made meaningful progress in strengthening post-trade infrastructure, legacy clearing systems remain a major source of workflow friction.

The survey identified three especially prominent operational pain points:

• Reliance on legacy post-trade systems: 53%
• Data quality and fragmentation: 51%
• Manual intervention in areas such as reconciliations: 49%

These challenges are interconnected. A fragmented clearing system can create inconsistent information flows across platforms, making trade processing slower and increasing the need for manual checks. Over time, that can reduce efficiency, raise cost and make it harder for firms to deliver timely reporting or support real-time risk management.

The implications also extend into innovation. AI and machine learning tools require high-quality data, accessible information and integrated workflows. When post-trade processes are spread across disconnected systems, firms may struggle to build the data foundations needed to support advanced analytics, automated exception management or more innovative client services.

The survey also points to a meaningful reassessment of core ETD processing infrastructure. A notable share of respondents are either planning to change their primary post-trade ETD processing platform or are already in the process of doing so.

When asked about plans to change their primary post-trade ETD processing platform over the next five years, respondents said:

• Currently in the process of changing: 16%
• Definitely planning to change: 11%
• Possibly planning to change: 33%
• No plans to change: 33%
• Recently changed: 4%
• Will change, but not within five years: 2%

That level of activity is significant because changing a core processing platform is rarely straightforward. It requires coordination across operations, technology, risk, client service, finance, regulatory reporting and management teams. It also requires firms to balance the potential benefits of a new platform against the execution risk of transformation.

The biggest expected challenges in upgrading core post-trade platforms were:

• Change risk: 71%
• Vendor limitations: 61%
• Budget constraints: 57%
• Talent availability: 21%
• Contractual lock-in with current vendor: 18%
• Unclear ROI: 18%

For a clearing member, this creates a strategic tension. Remaining on an aging clearing system may preserve stability in the near term, but it can limit the ability to deliver better client experiences, reduce manual work and support future market requirements. Moving to a new platform may create transition risk, but it can also offer a path toward more scalable, integrated and resilient post-trade processing.
 

Buy-side expectations are adding another dimension to the investment cycle. Asset managers, hedge funds and other institutional investor groups are placing greater emphasis on transparency, speed and consistency across margin, risk and collateral management.

When asked where their sell-side clearing provider or FCM could most improve, buy-side respondents pointed to:

• Margin and risk: 60%
• Collateral management: 44%
• Trade break and reconciliation: 40%
• Trade capture and allocations: 28%
• Client servicing and reporting: 26%
• Finance and billing: 24%
• Risk and analytics: 24%

The pain points are especially clear around margin and collateral. Buy-side firms are looking for greater transparency into how margin is calculated, more consistent methodologies across products and CCPs and better alignment between FCM margin, CCP margin and internal risk views.

Key margin and collateral pain points included:

• Lack of transparency into how margin is calculated: 47%
• Inconsistent margin methodologies across products or CCPs: 38%
• Differences between FCM margin, CCP margin and internal risk views: 35%
• Unexpected or late margin calls: 24%
• Limited API or system integration with FCM margin data: 24%

These findings show how buy-side priorities are influencing clearing member strategy. Margin and collateral are not simply operational functions. They affect funding costs, liquidity planning, fund performance and investor outcomes. At a time when capital efficiency remains a central concern, clients increasingly need clearer information, more consistent risk treatment and faster access to data.

For FCMs, that creates an opportunity. A clearing member that can deliver more transparent reporting, integrated data and real-time insight may be better positioned to deepen client relationships. A clearing member that cannot may find that operational friction becomes a competitive disadvantage. 
 

Automation is emerging as one of the clearest priorities for the next clearing cycle. It reflects the need to reduce manual work, accelerate processing and improve control across post-trade workflows. It also reflects the growing client expectation that clearing services should deliver faster reporting, more dynamic risk views and more efficient settlement support.

Real-time capability is becoming equally important. When evaluating third-party vendors for exchange-traded and OTC derivatives clearing technology, FCMs prioritized a combination of reliability, integration and processing speed.

The most important vendor evaluation factors included:

• Resilience and reliability: 67%
• Ease of integration: 60%
• Total cost of ownership: 57%
• Real-time or intraday processing capabilities: 55%
• Use by comparable FCMs or GCMs: 38%
• Ability to support listed and OTC derivatives on a single platform: 38%
• Speed of implementation: 33%

This points to a broader shift in infrastructure expectations. Firms are looking for solutions that do more than process trades after the fact. They need technology that supports timely information, integrated data flows and faster decision-making across risk, collateral, reporting and settlement.
 

As firms evaluate next-generation post-trade solutions, resilience remains the baseline. But resilience is only one part of the equation.

FCMs are not looking for technology change for its own sake. They are looking for solutions that can support operational stability while also enabling adaptability. The future clearing system needs to be reliable enough for high-volume markets, flexible enough to support new client demands and integrated enough to deliver consistent information across the enterprise.

That balance will matter as the cleared derivatives market continues to evolve. The firms best positioned for the next phase will likely be those that view clearing modernization as a strategic investment in resilience, transparency and competitive execution.

ETD clearing technology investment is entering a new era. The priorities are clear:

• Reduce post-trade friction
• Improve data quality
• Automate manual workflows
• Strengthen risk management
• Increase transparency into margin and collateral
• Support real-time trade, risk and settlement insight
• Build clearing infrastructure that can adapt over time

The central question is not whether post-trade modernization will continue. It is how effectively firms can convert investment into clearing infrastructure that is resilient today and ready for what comes next.

© 2026 Nasdaq, Inc. All rights reserved. Nasdaq and Nasdaq Calypso are registered trademarks of Nasdaq, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries.
 

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