Type Stock exchange Location New York City United States Founded February 4 1971 Owner NASDAQ OMX Group Currency United States dollar No. of listings 2872 MarketCap US$4.72 trillion (Feb 2011)1 Volume US$982 billion (Feb 2011) Indexes NASDAQ Composite NASDAQ-100 NASDAQ Biotechnology Index Website www.nasdaq.com

The NASDAQ Stock Market also known as the NASDAQ is an American stock exchange. "NASDAQ" originally stood for "National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations".2 It is the largest electronic screen-based equity securities trading market in the United States and second-largest by market capitalization in the world.3 As of January 13 2011 there are 2872 listings.4 The NASDAQ has more trading volume than any other electronic stock exchange in the world.5 Contents 1 History 2 EASDAQ 3 Quote availability 4 Trading schedule 5 Indices 6 Markets 7 See also 8 References 9 External links History

It was founded in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) who divested themselves of it in a series of sales in 2000 and 2001. It is owned and operated by the NASDAQ OMX Group the stock of which was listed on its own stock exchange beginning July 2 2002 under the ticker symbol NASDAQ: NDAQ. It is regulated by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

With the incomplete purchase of the Nordic-based operated exchange OMX following its disagreement with Borse Dubai NASDAQ is poised to capture 67% of the controlling stake in the aforementioned exchange thereby inching ever closer to taking over the company and creating a trans-atlantic powerhouse. The group now known as Nasdaq-OMX controls and operates the NASDAQ stock exchange in New York City the second largest exchange in the United States. It also operates eight stock exchanges in Europe and holds one-third of the Dubai Stock Exchange. It has a double-listing agreement with OMX and will compete with NYSE Euronext group in attracting new listings.

When the NASDAQ stock exchange began trading on February 8 1971 it was the world's first electronic stock market. At first it was merely a computer bulletin board system and did not actually connect buyers and sellers. The NASDAQ helped lower the spread (the difference between the bid price and the ask price of the stock) but somewhat paradoxically was unpopular among brokerages because they made much of their money on the spread.

NASDAQ was the successor to the over-the-counter (OTC) system of trading. As late as 1987 the NASDAQ exchange was still commonly referred to as the OTC in media and also in the monthly Stock Guides issued by Standard & Poor's Corporation.

Over the years NASDAQ became more of a stock market by adding trade and volume reporting and automated trading systems. NASDAQ was also the first stock market in the United States to start trading online. Nobody before them had ever done this highlighting NASDAQ-traded companies (usually in technology) and closing with the declaration that NASDAQ is "the stock market for the next hundred years." Its main index is the NASDAQ Composite which has been published since its inception. However its exchange-traded fund tracks the large-cap NASDAQ-100 index which was introduced in 1985 alongside the NASDAQ 100 Financial Index.

Until 1987 most trading occurred via the telephone but during the October 1987 stock market crash market makers often didn't answer their phones. To counteract this the Small Order Execution System (SOES) was established which provides an electronic method for dealers to enter their trades. NASDAQ requires market makers to honor trades over SOES.

In 1992 it joined with the London Stock Exchange to form the first intercontinental linkage of securities markets. NASD spun off NASDAQ in 2000 to form a publicly traded company the NASDAQ Stock Market Inc.

In 2006 NASDAQ changed from stock market to licensed national exchange. On November 8 2007 NASDAQ bought the Philadelphia Stock Exchange (PHLX) for US$652 million. PHLX is the oldest stock exchange in Americahaving been in operation since 1790. To qualify for listing on the exchange a company must be registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have at least three market makers (financial firms that act as brokers or dealers for specific securities) and meet minimum requirements for assets capital public shares and shareholders. In February 2011 in the wake of an announced merger of NYSE Euronext with Deutsche Brse speculation developed that Nasdaq and IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) could mount a counter-bid of their own for NYSE. Nasdaq could be looking to acquire the American exchange's cash equities business ICE the derivatives business. As of the time of the speculation "NYSE Euronexts market value was $9.75 billion. Nasdaq was valued at $5.78 billion while ICE was valued at $9.45 billion."6 Late in the month Nasdaq was reported to be considering asking either ICE or the Chicago Merc to join in what would be probably have to be if it proceeded an $11-12 billion counterbid.7 EASDAQ EASDAQ (European Association of Securities Dealers Automatic Quotation System) was a European electronic securities exchange headquartered in Brussels. Founded originally as a European equivalent to NASDAQ it was purchased by NASDAQ in 2001 and became NASDAQ Europe. In 2003 it shut down operations as a result of the burst of the dot-com bubble. In 2007 NASDAQ Europe was revived as Equiduct and is currently operating under Brse Berlin.8 Quote availability NASDAQ quotes are available at three levels: Level 1 shows the highest bid and lowest offerthe inside quote. Level 2 shows all public quotes of market makers together with information of market dealers wishing to sell or buy stock and recently executed orders.9 Level 3 is used by the market makers and allows them to enter their quotes and execute orders. Trading schedule NASDAQ has a pre-market session from 7:00am to 9:30am a normal trading session from 9:30am to 4:00pm and a post-market session from 4:00pm to 8:00pm (all times in ET).10 Indices NASDAQ-100 NASDAQ Biotechnology Index NASDAQ Composite NASDAQ Bank Markets NASDAQ Capital Market NASDAQ Global Market NASDAQ Global Select Market NASDAQ PORTAL Market See also New York City portal ACT (NASDAQ) NASDAQ futures NASDAQ MarketSite References World-exchanges.org Archived February 13 2011 at WebCite Frequently Asked Questions. NASDAQ.com. NASDAQ n.d. Web. 23 Dec. 2009. Archived February 13 2011 at WebCite "China becomes world's third largest stock market". The Economic Times. June 19 2010. Archived from the original on 2011-02-13. http://www.webcitation.org/5wT1KtQ0w. Retrieved 19 June 2010.  NASDAQ Companies - NASDAQ.com Archived February 13 2011 at WebCite "NASDAQ Performance Report". NASDAQ Newsroom. The Nasdaq Stock Market. 2007-01-12. Archived from the original on 2011-02-13. http://www.nasdaq.com/newsroom/stats/PerformanceReport.stm#item2. Retrieved 2007-02-15.  De la Merced Michael J. "Nasdaq and ICE Hold Talks Over Potential N.Y.S.E. Bid" The New York Times Dealbook February 18 2011 12:46 pm. Retrieved 2011-02-18. Fraser Michelle E. "Nasdaq May Ask CME or ICE for Help in NYSE Counterbid WSJ Says" Bloomberg February 26 2011 9:30 AM ET. Retrieved 2011-03-01. "Easdaq Makes A Comeback As Equiduct". Archived from the original on 2011-02-13. http://www.securitiestechnologymonitor.com/supplements/20061231/19226-1.html.  "Order Book Level 2 Market Data and Depth of Market". daytrading.about.com. Archived from the original on 2011-02-13. http://daytrading.about.com/od/daytradingglossary/a/OrderBook.htm.  Market Hours NASDAQ via Wikinvest External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: NASDAQ Official website v d eNASDAQ OMX Group Exchanges Armenian  Copenhagen  First North  Helsinki  Iceland  NASDAQ  Philadelphia  Boston  Riga  Stockholm  Tallinn  Vilnius Indexes Copenhagen 20  Helsinki 25  Iceland 6  NASDAQ (Composite  100  Biotechnology)  Nordic 40  Stockholm 30 Other holdings Globe Newswire v d eMajor United States stock market indexes Dow Jones Industrial Average (30 large stocks; popular indicator)  NYSE Composite Index (all companies on the NYSE)  Nasdaq Composite Index (all companies on the NASDAQ; technology-heavy)  NASDAQ-100 Index (100 large NASDAQ non-financial stocks)  S&P 500 Index (500 large companies; general market analysis)  Russell 2000 Index (small-cap stocks)  Wilshire 5000 Index (total U.S. market) v d eStock market Types of stocks Common stock  Concentrated stock  Golden share  Growth stock  Issued shares  Preferred stock  Restricted stock  Shares authorized  Shares outstanding  Tracking stock  Treasury stock Participants Broker-dealer  Floor broker  Floor trader  Investor  Market maker  Proprietary trader  Quantitative analyst  Stock trader Exchanges Electronic communication network  Market opening times  Over-the-counter  Stock exchange (list)   Multilateral trading facility Stock valuation Alpha  Arbitrage pricing theory  Beta  Book value  CAPM  Dividend yield  Earnings per share  Earnings yield  Gordon model  SCL  SML  T-Model Financial ratios Cap rate  D/E ratio  Dividend cover  Dividend payout ratio  EV/EBITDA  EV/GCI  EV/Sales  P/B ratio  P/CF ratio  P/E  PEG  P/S ratio  RAROC  ROA  ROCE  ROE  ROTE  ROIC  SGR  Sharpe ratio  Treynor ratio Trading theories and strategies Algorithmic trading  Buy and hold  Contrarian investing  Day trading  Efficient-market hypothesis  Fundamental analysis  Market timing  Modern portfolio theory  Momentum investing  Mosaic theory  Pairs trade  Post-modern portfolio theory  Random walk hypothesis  Style investing  Swing trading  Technical analysis  Trend following Related terms Block trade  Cross listing  Dark liquidity  Dividend  Dual-listed company  DuPont Model  Flight-to-quality  Haircut  IPO  Margin  Market anomaly  Market capitalization  Market depth  Market manipulation  Market trend  Mean reversion  Momentum  Open outcry  Public float  Rally  Reverse stock split  Share capital  Short selling  Slippage  Speculation  Stock dilution  Stock split  Trade  Uptick rule  Volatility  Voting interest