Custom Basket Futures & Forwards
Global Equity Exposure Made Simple - Providing investors with tailored exposure to global equities as well as security of multilateral trading and central counterparty clearing on Nasdaq Nordic.
Next-Generation Derivatives
Combine customization with the benefits of CCP clearing and trading on a regulated market
Nasdaq Custom Basket Futures and Forwards are innovative derivative products addressing the rising demand for a simpler and more efficient way of handling tailored equity exposures.
For firms struggling with the increasing challenges associated with OTC equity swaps, Nasdaq Custom Basket derivatives offer a cost-efficient alternative, combining bespoke elements with the benefits of central counterparty clearing and trading on a regulated market.
Custom Basket Futures Explained in 2 Minutes
A Listed Alternative To Equity Swaps
Nasdaq Custom Basket Futures and Forwards enable investors to create a cash-settled futures or forward contract on a customized equity basket selected from a broad stock universe.
Access Key Resources: Custom Basket Futures & Forwards Factsheet Custom Basket Futures & Forwards Sales Presentation Custom Basket Futures & Forwards FAQs Custom Basket Futures & Forwards Service Description Custom Baskets Calculation Methodology Custom Baskets Stock UniverseFIA Tech Powers Pre-Trade Transparency for Nasdaq Custom Basket Futures
We're excited to announce that FIA Tech analytics are now embedded in Custom Basket Futures, enabling market participants to gain pre-trade visibility into key U.S. regulatory and tax considerations. This integration supports execution and operational efficiencies from trade inception.
Key Advantages
Flexible, cost efficient and secure
Benefit from CCP clearing and trading on a regulated market. Combine the bespoke elements of uncleared derivatives with capital and cost efficiencies.
A Customized Tool for ESG
Create ESG and climate investment themes or track a benchmark and apply your own screening criteria.
No Need for ISDA Agreement
Reduce bilateral risk and dependency in liquidity provision without need of ISDA agreement.
Global Equity Exposure Made Simple
Gain access to tailored equity exposures globally with a standardized contract.
Customized Equity Exposure in a Single Transaction
Transact customized equity baskets with custom features such as currency, return type, composition and weights in a single contract.
Instrument for custom basket users for short exposures
Easily create long or short exposures by respectively buying or selling the futures or forward contracts.
One position. One contract. One transaction.
A More Simple And Efficient Way To Handle Global Equity Exposure
How Nasdaq Custom Basket Futures & Forwards Work
Features Available to Customize Your Equity Basket
Step 1
Define your equity basket by currency and return type such as gross, net and price.
Step 2
Select your composition by defining the individual stocks and weights from a broad global stock universe.
Step 3
A cash-settled futures or forward contract is issued in Nasdaq's trading and clearing systems.
Step 4
You're now able to transact the custom basket in a single instrument in one transaction.
✓ Basket composition
More than 4 200 stocks available
✓ Basket base currency
SEK / DKK / NOK / USD / EUR / GBP
✓ Return type
Price / Gross / Net
✓ Public and private baskets
✓ Standard basket calculation methodology and Corporate Action treatment
✓ Exchange traded and CCP cleared contract
✓ Futures or forward with cash settlement and quarterly expiration
Why Custom Basket Futures are Gaining Momentum
Traditional equity benchmarks remain efficient, but they no longer align with how modern portfolios are constructed. Cap‑weighted indices increasingly embed unintended concentration, regional bias, and style drift, forcing asset managers to manage outcomes after taking exposure.
Custom baskets - often powered by QIS - reverse this logic. They allow managers to design exposure first, then implement it efficiently. Nasdaq Custom Basket Futures bring this design flexibility into a listed, liquid, and capital‑efficient futures format, enabling scalable implementation without structural complexity.
How Asset Managers Use CBFs
Custom Basket Futures allow asset managers to move from tracking indices to engineering exposure. Combined with QIS discipline and futures efficiency, they enable more precise, scalable, and intention‑driven portfolio construction.
Benchmark Optimization
Custom basket to neutralize index concentration (e.g. large‑cap tech dominance)
Portfolio Overlays
Futures overlay to adjust exposures without trading underlying holdings
Thematic Allocation
QIS‑driven baskets targeting themes like AI, energy transition, or defense
Transition Management
Maintain market exposure while reallocating capital internally
Client Stories
"As a leading active institutional investor within responsible investments, at Nordea Asset Management we manage a wide range of Article 8 and 9 funds with daily in- and outflow. In order to keep exposure optimal at all times, the use of derivatives plays an important role in our portfolio construction. The problem with traditional derivatives is that they typically include all constituents – including some that we for various reasons deem unfit for our products."
Rolf Mølkjær, Co-Head of Global Trading, Nordea
"We see Nasdaq Custom Basket Forwards as the perfect instrument to address new market segments and hedge risk. For the strategies we want to implement, using Custom Basket Forwards is much more efficient and cost-effective compared to alternative solutions."
Peter Magnusson, Fund Manager, Cicero Fonder
"Nasdaq Custom Basket Futures enhance UCIM's ability to further reduce exposure to conventional energy within the passive component of the endowment’s public equity portfolio, supporting progress towards our ambition to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2038. It has been a pleasure to work with the Nasdaq team as it developed an innovative, efficient solution for UCIM and its stakeholders at the University of Cambridge."
Sarah Wood, Associate Director, Marketable Assets, University of Cambridge Investment Management
University of Cambridge Investment Management
University of Cambridge Investment Management became the first to trade Nasdaq Custom Basket Futures with a notional value of €80 million.
Hear from Sarah Wood, Associate Director of Marketable Assets at UCIM as she shares how they decided to exclude conventional energy, supporting a core part of UCIM’s sustainable investment strategy.
Transform the way you manage your equity investments
Watch this short interview where Alessandro Romani, VP, Head of European Equity Derivatives at Nasdaq, talks about the benefits and use cases for Nasdaq Custom Basket Forwards.
FAQs
Custom Basket Futures and Forwards allow investors to create a cash-settled futures or forward contract on a customized equity basket, combining tailored and bespoke elements with the benefits of CCP clearing and trading on a regulated market.
Exchange and Clearing members of Nasdaq Stockholm AB can submit basket requests following the signing of a license agreement and subject to the Exchange Rules and Clearing Rules of Nasdaq Derivatives Markets.
Custom Basket Futures and Forwards are for investors seeking tailored and cost-efficient equity exposures without bilateral risk, dependency in liquidity provision and entering/maintaining ISDA agreements. Nasdaq has developed Custom Basket Futures and Forwards to address an increasing demand for a simpler and more efficient way to handle equity exposures with standardized contracts on a regulated market.
The following elements can be customized:
- Basket currency
- Return type
- Basket composition
- Basket weights
The referenced derivatives are traded and cleared in the same currency as the defined base currency of the basket.
For buy-side:
For firms who are finding equity swaps increasingly difficult due to the pressure of regulations and changes in the industry, Custom Basket Futures and Forwards offer a simple and cost-effective alternative, that gives them tailored equity exposure to a broad universe of stocks in a single contract, with the benefit of CCP clearing and trading on a regulated market.
For sell-side:
For banks who are looking for new ways to reach buy-side clients locked in ISDA agreements with other banks, clients who don’t want to trade swaps/bilateral, or clients who want more cost-efficient ways to create tailored equity exposure, Custom Basket Futures and Forwards offer a simpler and more efficient way to handle equity exposures with standardized contracts on a regulated market.
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