Industry participants discussed rising demand for option-based strategies and the growing role of artificial intelligence (AI) and tokenisation at Eurex Derivatives Forum 2026 held in Frankfurt on 25-26 February.

A panel of senior index specialists from FTSE Russell, MSCI, Bloomberg and Stoxx discussed how thematic investing, engineered index design and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled customisation were accelerating structural change across global markets. Index‑based approaches to private markets could eventually lead to derivatives contracts: FTSE Russell's Creighton  Hamish Seegopaul, global head of index product innovation at Stoxx, said the core challenge in thematic index constru