02:12 PM EDT, 08/29/2024 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates throughout with additional information.)

Nasdaq's (NDAQ) Nasdaq Futures has been ordered by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, or CFTC, to pay a $22 million fine, the regulator said Thursday.

The order found that Nasdaq Futures from July 2015 through July 2018 operated as a designated contract market, or DCM, focused on energy commodity futures contracts. The order alleges that the company "failed to properly establish, monitor, or enforce rules related to an incentive program Nasdaq Futures offered to certain traders" on its DCM, the commission said.

The company also failed to fully share details about its incentive program with the CFTC or the public as required by law and made false and misleading statements to the CFTC about the program, the commission said.

Nasdaq Futures conduct "represents significant violations of both its duty to provide such information and several statutory Core Principles applicable to CFTC-designated exchanges," CFTC enforcement director Ian McGinley said.

"Nasdaq sold Nasdaq Futures' futures exchange business in November 2019 and is pleased to resolve this matter in cooperation with the CFTC," Nasdaq told MT Newswires via email.

"Unfortunately, today's action is about beating a dead market that de-registered with the CFTC in 2020. Exchange incentive programs are commonplace in both securities and derivatives markets, although the CFTC has less experience with program features that are widely used to provide liquidity in equities," CFTC Commissioner Caroline D Pham said.

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