NASDAQ OMX Group had laid out plans to draw individual investors into its currency futures platform through a series of new offers. The exchange operator is seeking to retain its market leadership as its main competitor is being purchased by a derivatives market platform.

The company had offered six contracts that pair up the US dollar with currencies from Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Switzerland and the UK. For the amount of USD10,000, these contracts would hopefully be reasonable enough to entice investors who would otherwise decline on these kinds of offers.

According to NASDAQ OMX Futures President Dan Carrigan, this is but one of the new product offers by NASDAQ. The platform got its start in US stocks but had since diversified into European equities and its later acquisition of ESpeed platform would allow it to trade in US Treasuries.

In a phone interview, Carrigan said, "Our vision is to bring to market an FX product that makes sense to retail investors, Our goal is to plant a flag in the futures industry and this is the first set of products that gets us on that radar screen."