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Monday, September 14, 2026

Equity Trader Alert #2026 - 53
Nasdaq Introduces Quality Liquidity Provider (QLP) Program — Effective September 1, 2026

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  • Pricing

Markets Impacted:

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Effective September 1, 2026, Nasdaq Stock Market ("Nasdaq") is enhancing its Designated Liquidity Provider (DLP) Program with a new, higher-tier offering: the Quality Liquidity Provider (QLP) Program.

What's New (Program Overview) 

The QLP Program gives issuers the option to enroll in an elevated listing tier that provides increased market maker support beyond Nasdaq's standard DLP offering, in exchange for a new Premier Annual Listing Fee of $50,000 per product (an alternative to the current $4,000 Standard Annual Listing Fee)

Key Program Details

  • Market Quality Metrics: The lead market maker (the "QLP") must meet 5 of the 7 existing market quality metrics to qualify for the incentive. The metrics themselves are unchanged from the standard DLP program; however, the passing thresholds have been tightened.

  • Incentive: To compensate for the increased quoting obligations, the market maker incentive for QLP-designated products has increased to $3,000 per product per month.

  • Eligibility to Enroll: Issuers may enroll funds in the QLP Program only if the product's average daily volume (ADV) is 1 million shares or less, measured at the time the QLP is assigned.  Nasdaq will annually review assigned ETPs and remove those exceeding 1 million ADV on average over the prior year from the QLP Program.

  • No Impact to MQS: The Market Quality Supporter (MQS) Program is unaffected by this change.

Additional Resources

For further details on the DLP and QLP programs — including ETP groupings and market quality performance standards — please refer to the DLP and QLP Factsheets.

For currently listed ETPs — please see Nasdaq Trader.

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Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) is a leading global provider of trading, clearing, exchange technology, listing, information and public company services. Through its diverse portfolio of solutions, Nasdaq enables customers to plan, optimize and execute their business vision with confidence, using proven technologies that provide transparency and insight for navigating today's global capital markets. As the creator of the world's first electronic stock market, its technology powers more than 90 marketplaces in 50 countries, and 1 in 10 of the world's securities transactions. Nasdaq is home to approximately 3,900 total listings with a market value of approximately $13 trillion. To learn more, visit: business.nasdaq.com.

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