As Ardor continues testing and development, Nxt 1.9 will be released. With Nxt 1.9, you'll get your first chance to own a piece of Ardor. All those who hold an amount of NXT will also get a piece of Ardor. Snapshots will start be taken on an hourly basis, starting on July 14th to October 12th. Then, your total NXT will be averaged, and you'll receive that amount in Ardor tokens on October 12th, which will be freely tradeable up until the Ardor system launches.
At block 1,000,000 on October 12th, 2016, snapshotting will stop, and you'll be allowed to trade your Ardor tokens in NXT 1.9 in preparation for the launch of the Ardor blockchain.