ICE has offices in Atlanta; New York; London; Chicago; Bedford; Houston; Winnipeg; Amsterdam; Calgary; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; Pleasanton; Tel Aviv; Rome; Hyderabad; Singapore; and Melbourne.

[2] In the late 1990s, Sprecher acquired Continental Power Exchange, Inc. with the objective of developing an Internet-based platform to provide a more transparent and efficient market structure for over-the-counter energy commodity trading.

[3] In May 2000, ICE was founded by Sprecher and backed by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BP, Total, Shell, Deutsche Bank and Société Générale.

While the company's original focus was energy products (crude and refined oil, natural gas, power, and emissions), acquisitions subsequently expanded its activity into soft commodities (sugar, cotton and coffee), foreign exchange and equity index futures.

"US regulators were keen on the kind of clearing house for opaque over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives as a risk management device.

In the absence of a central counterparty – which would guarantee pay-outs should a trading party be unable to do so – there was a high risk of massive market disruption.

In his article in the Financial Post, he described ICE as a "US-based electronic futures exchange" which raised the stakes on October 30, 2008, in its effort to expand in the $54000 bn credit derivatives market.

[7][9] By 2017 Intercontinental Exchange had been named to the Fortune Future 50 determining the top 50 companies that are best positioned to adapt and deliver growth in a complex environment.

On September 6, 2019, Bloomberg reported that ICE was growing closer to offering Bitcoin futures trading, as "its Bakkt unit opens its digital-asset custody warehouse today to customers."

The company expanded rapidly in 2007, acquiring the New York Board of Trade (NYBOT),[12] and ChemConnect (a chemical commodity market).

[13] IntercontinentalExchange Inc., the "upstart Atlanta-based energy bourse" purchased the privately held 120-year-old Winnipeg Commodity Exchange, known for its canola futures contract, for $40 million.

"[20] Late in the month, Nasdaq was reported to be considering asking either ICE or the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to join in what would probably be an $11–12 billion counterbid for NYSE.

Another week later, ICE and Nasdaq sweetened their offer, including a $.17 increase per share to $42.67 and a $350 million breakup fee if the deal were to encounter regulatory trouble.

[22] The Justice Department, also in April, "initiated an antitrust review of the proposal, which would have brought nearly all U.S. stock listings under a merged Nasdaq-NYSE."

[24][25] In December 2012, ICE announced it would buy NYSE Euronext (this time without the involvement of Nasdaq) for $8.2 billion, pending regulatory approval.

[28] In September 2014, ICE announced that it had agreed to acquire SuperDerivatives,[29] a provider of risk management analytics, financial market data and valuation services.

In October 2016 it announced its decision to require ICE to sell Trayport, having ruled that the merger could lead to a substantial lessening of competition.

[37] In February 2017, ICE announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the Global Research division's index platform from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Established in 2000, TMC Bonds is a fixed income marketplace, supporting anonymous trading in various asset classes including Municipals, Corporates, Treasuries, Agencies and Certificates of Deposit.

[42] In October 2018, ICE announced that it had acquired the remaining equity of Merscorp Holding, Inc., owner of Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (MERS).

Merscorp owns and operates the MERS System, a national electronic registry that tracks the changes in servicing rights and beneficial ownership interests in U.S.-based mortgage loans.

[44] In August 2020, ICE announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ellie Mae, a cloud-based platform provider for the mortgage finance industry.

[list 1] In May 2022, ICE announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Black Knight, Inc., a software, data and analytics company that serves the housing finance continuum.

[53] In August 2023, ICE announced that they had entered into an Agreement Containing Consent Orders (the “ACCO”) with the Bureau of Competition of the Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) regarding their pending acquisition of Black Knight.

[54] In September 2023, the parties closed the acquisition and completed the previously announced divestitures of Black Knight's Empower and Optimal Blue businesses to subsidiaries of Constellation Software Inc.

ICE Data Services has offices in California, New York, Chicago, Bedford MA, London, Rome, Dublin, Tel Aviv, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Hyderabad and Melbourne.