Nasdaq OMX’s attempt to launch a derivatives market in Europe is a year old and it has been trumpeting its progress in building liquidity. However, data seen by Financial News shows that the majority of its trading in Euribor contracts is taking place in two narrow time windows each day in a way that allows firms to collect a share of the £50,000-a-week cash incentive that Nasdaq OMX pays to encourage trading.

Outside these two windows, trading volumes are drastically lower.