Its mortgage technology segment revenue jumped more than seven times to $350 million, as Ellie Mae accounted for more than three-fourth of the surge, adding $276 million.
ICE had expected Ellie Mae to generate $220 million to $235 million in revenue.
Revenue in the exchanges segment, ICE's biggest business, jumped 20% to $1.43 billion.
Exchange operators are also benefiting from market volatility, induced in part by burgeoning retail participation as the COVID-19 pandemic forced a shift to working from home.
Excluding one-time items, ICE earned $1.13 per share. Analysts were expecting a profit of $1.08 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. It was not immediately clear if the estimates were comparable.
Net income attributable to the company rose 17% to $526 million, or 93 cents per share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31.
Total revenue, excluding transaction-based expenses, rose 28% to $1.67 billion. Analysts were expecting it to be $1.63 billion.
In January, rival Nasdaq Inc topped Wall Street estimates for its fourth-quarter profit, helped by a boom in trading.
(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber and Arun Koyyur)
