Miami International Holdings Q2 2026 Earnings Review -

Operating leverage in full swing as fixed-cost tollbooth economics deliver record revenue, expanding EBITDA margins, and a structural runway in financial futures.

Executive Summary & Key Financial Takeaways

Miami International Holdings (MIAX) reported another outstanding quarterly performance in Q2 2026, demonstrating the structural power of its high-throughput exchange platform. Fueled by persistent macro volatility, trade policy dynamics, geopolitical friction, and elevated stock dispersion across key technology names, industry trading volumes provided a powerful tailwind. True to our thesis on digital exchange infrastructure, MIAX’s fixed-cost „tollbooth“ architecture converted incremental volume directly into record operating margin expansion.

Q2 2026 Financial Highlights:

Net Revenue: $141.1M (+34.8% YoY) vs. $104.7M in Q2 2025.
Adjusted EBITDA: $76.8M (+56.5% YoY) vs. $49.1M in Q2 2025.
Adjusted EBITDA Margin: 54.4% (+750 bps YoY expansion from 46.9%).
Adjusted Diluted EPS: $0.48 (+41.2% YoY from $0.34).
Options Segment Net Revenue: $124.4M (+34.1% YoY).
Cash & Liquidity Position: $660.5M in cash and equivalents against less than $1.5M in total debt.

1. Options Segment: Balancing RPC and Market Share

The core options cash engine remained exceptionally healthy during the quarter:

Volume Dynamics: Multi-listed options Average Daily Volume (ADV) reached 11.0M contracts (+25.3% YoY), tracking record industry ADV growth of 66.5M contracts.
Market Share: MIAX’s multi-listed options market share came in at 16.5% (down slightly from 17.3% in Q1 2026, but flat YoY). Market share rebounded strongly to 17.1% in July, with August pacing higher as fee tweaks were implemented.
Revenue Per Contract (RPC): Options RPC stepped up to $0.124 (vs. $0.117 in Q2 2025 and $0.110 in Q1 2026). Management noted that lower volume at top rebate tiers naturally expands capture rates. While H2 2026 RPC is expected to settle closer to historical norms ($0.103–$0.110) as market share normalizes, MIAX demonstrated its ability to maximize net transaction dollars regardless of minor share fluctuations.
Non-Transaction Revenue: Non-transaction fees surged 36% YoY, driven by strong member connection growth, January 1 fee adjustments, and market data sales.

Outperformance in IPO & Single-Stock Expirations

In high-demand listings like SpaceX and SK Hynix, as well as Monday/Wednesday weekly expirations, MIAX’s market share significantly outperformed its baseline. Management attributes this to MIAX’s proprietary risk management mechanisms and low-latency determinism. These systems allow market makers to quote aggressively and stay firm on screens without incurring negative expectancy trades.

2. Bloomberg Financial Futures: Executing Step 2 (Retail Onboarding)

The launch of the Bloomberg Financial Futures ecosystem (B500, B100, and TINI contracts) on May 17 marks a structural transformation for MIAX’s long-term earnings mix.

Phase 1 Complete: Order books are lit, market maker depth is established, and spreads are tight.
Phase 2 Underway: The primary focus for H2 2026 is connecting retail brokerages to drive end-user adoption.
Clearing Infrastructure Optimization: MIAX announced two key moves to eliminate friction for market participants:
1. OCC Migration: Transitioning financial futures clearing to the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC) to maximize capital efficiency and portfolio margining offsets.
2. FCM Capital Injection: MIAX applied for OCC membership for its Dorman Trading FCM, backing it with a $40M capital contribution to provide direct clearing access for retail brokers lacking OCC setup.

With an exclusive 10-year license across North and South America for index futures, options on futures, and cash index options, MIAX is positioned to expand the overall index derivative market through competitive fee models and quicker inclusion of major IPOs.

3. Perpetual Futures (Perps) & The Onshore Shift

Tom Gallagher Q2 2026: „We welcome the CFTC’s framework bringing perpetual contracts into regulated U.S. Markets. This policy shift, if it takes hold, could bring volumes that are currently being executed on offshore venues to U.S.-regulated markets… Accordingly, we are pursuing a path of active regulatory engagement… As potential opportunities arise, we may leverage our modern, agile trading and clearing infrastructure, as well as our CFTC-licensed futures exchange and futures clearinghouse, to consider offering capital-efficient derivatives products.“

MIAX holds a structural technology and regulatory advantage in this landscape:

Agile Infrastructure: Unlike legacy exchange architectures, MIAX’s state-of-the-art Onyx trading engine and CFTC-licensed futures clearinghouse require minimal modification to support continuous 24/7 perpetual contracts.
Active Engagement: MIAX is actively engaging both the CFTC and SEC, alongside prospective trading partners, to structure capital-efficient, CFTC-regulated perpetual products.
FCM Access Gateway: Leveraging its FCM and clearinghouse, MIAX can serve as the primary regulated gateway for institutional and retail flow if offshore volume migrates to U.S. regulatedvenues.

4. Following the Resolved NASDAQ Lawsuit

The formal settlement and dismissal of the legacy Nasdaq litigation during the quarter represents a fundamental inflection point for MIAX. Removing this long-standing legal battle cleans up the balance sheet, reduces ongoing legal expenses, and unlocks critical strategic vectors for commercial growth.

Complete Strategic & Commercial Freedom

No IP Restrictions: The Court entered an Order of Dismissal With Prejudice, resolving all claims and counterclaims. MIAX can operate, upgrade, and modify its exchanges—including its Onyx architecture—without needing any license, consent, or royalty payments to Nasdaq.
Commercial Scaling: MIAX is free to license, commercialize, or white-label its proprietary trading software to third parties globally without the threat of patent infringement injunctions from Nasdaq.

Elimination of Financial & Valuation Overhangs

Tail-Risk Removal: The lawsuit had dragged on since September 2017. While the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) previously invalidated six of Nasdaq’s patents, the ongoing legal feud presented an existential tail-risk (trade secret allegations and potential damages) that weighed on MIAX’s valuation.
Reduced Legal Run-Rate: In Q2 2026 alone, MIAX recorded $33 million in GAAP litigation settlement/costs related to the Nasdaq matter. With the matter closed, professional fees and legal retainer expenses will drop significantly, boosting future free cash flow conversion.

De-Risked Story for Institutional Shareholders

Clean Balance Sheet: MIAX exits the dispute with $660 million in cash, almost zero debt, and a de-risked narrative. Institutional investors and partners evaluating MIAX’s post-IPO trajectory no longer need to price in litigation contingencies or patent disputes.

Accelerating Data Monetization and Proprietary Feeds

Settling the Nasdaq litigation does not grant MIAX a new legal mechanism to charge for data subscriptions—MIAX already possessed that authority. However, resolving the dispute unlocks the exact strategic environment MIAX needs to scale its proprietary data revenue and compete with major incumbents like Nasdaq, Cboe, and ICE.

To understand why this matter so heavily, consider how exchange data business models operate:

SIP / Tape Plan Revenues: Shared industry revenue pools for multi-listed equities and options data.
Proprietary Direct Data Feeds: Proprietary feeds (such as Top of Market, Order Feeds, and Depth of Market) sold directly to high-frequency trading (HFT) firms, quantitative funds, and brokerages for recurring subscription fees.

The resolution of the Nasdaq dispute directly accelerates MIAX’s ability to capture these high-margin revenue streams:

Clean Commercialization of Technology: Because Nasdaq’s lawsuit targeted MIAX’s underlying exchange software, intellectual property, and order matching mechanics, any custom data products derived from its core system carried persistent legal risk. Dismissing the case with prejudice allows MIAX to freely package and commercialize novel data products without fear of litigation.
Expansion into Proprietary, Non-SIP Data: Standard multi-listed options data offers limited pricing power. The highest-margin subscriptions stem from proprietary index products where the exchange holds exclusive listing rights (analogous to Cboe’s VIX data or CME’s S&P 500 data). MIAX’s 10-year exclusive partnership with Bloomberg for B500 and B100 index futures gives MIAX its own exclusive proprietary dataset. As trading volumes grow in these Bloomberg products, market makers and institutional desks will require subscriptions to MIAX’s direct data feeds to price and trade them. Settling with Nasdaq allows MIAX to deploy capital and engineering focus into these products without distraction.
Historical Data Sales: As highlighted in the Q2 2026 earnings call, MIAX is already beginning to monetize historical data sales, generating $1.8 million in episodic revenue in Q2. Removing the legal overhang allows MIAX to aggressively package historical order-book data for AI models, quantitative funds, and back-testing applications.

Ultimately, the settlement clears away structural and legal friction. By freeing its core IP and allowing management to focus on scaling the Bloomberg futures ecosystem, the resolution sets the stage for MIAX to expand its recurring, high-margin data and connectivity segment over the long term

5. Cost Discipline & Guidance Update

MIAX lowered its full-year 2026 adjusted operating expense guidance:

Adjusted OpEx: $260M – $270M (lowered from $265M – $275M).
Share-Based Comp: $29M – $32M (reflecting a shift from cash bonus to equity comp).
CapEx: Unchanged at $40M – $45M (front-loaded in H1).

Conclusion

MIAX continues to execute as a textbook asset-light compounder. With $660.5M in cash, expanding EBITDA margins, a settled legal slate, and a multi-decade growth runway across its options tollbooth, Bloomberg futures suite, and potential onshore perpetual derivatives, MIAX remains one of the premier growth stories in financial market structure.