Nasdaq Restores Non-Displayed Liquidity Credit Tier

Nasdaq has established a new transaction-fee credit tier for qualifying non-displayed orders that add liquidity, excluding Supplemental Orders. The SEC published notice of the immediately effective filing on October 6; Nasdaq designated the amendments operative from October 1.

The new tier retains the payments from a prior tier that expired at the end of August: $0.0015 per share for qualifying Tape A and Tape B executions, and $0.0010 per share for Tape C executions. But it changes how a member qualifies. The reference month becomes August 2026, while the required increase in non-displayed liquidity provision falls to 5% from 30%. Nasdaq says the new tier expires in February 2027.

The schedule applies to securities priced at $1 or more and to non-displayed orders other than midpoint orders for the qualification calculation. Nasdaq says the program is intended to encourage participants to increase qualifying non-displayed liquidity on the exchange and improve overall market quality. Qualification for the October application is based on September transaction volume under Nasdaq’s prior-month convention.

Why it matters

The changed threshold may make the credit attainable for more firms that post qualifying hidden liquidity. For brokers and proprietary trading firms, the adjustment can change net execution economics and should be evaluated alongside routing, order-type and best-execution controls.

What to watch next

Monitor monthly qualification results and any Nasdaq fee-schedule updates before the February 2027 expiration. The SEC notice is filed as SR-NASDAQ-2026-086.