NASDAQ
NASDAQ is the first electronic stock market which uses computers and telecommunications to trade shares rather than a traditional trading floor. NASDAQ is owned and operated by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD). It is the fastest growing major stock market in the world with well over 5,000 companies listed. Market makers compete to buy and sell NASDAQ-listed stocks of US and non-US based companies via a worldwide computer network for large and small investors.
NASDAQ, originally an acronym for National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations, is a Stock Exchange run by the National Association of Securities Dealers. When it began trading on 08 February 1971, it was the world's first electronic stock market. Since 1999, it is the largest American Stock Exchange with over half the companies traded in the United States listed. NASDAQ is made up of the NASDAQ National Market and the NASDAQ SmallCap Market.
NASDAQ allows multiple market participants to trade through its electronic communications networks (ECNs) structure, increasing competition. The Small Order Execution System (SOES) is another NASDAQ feature, introduced in 1984, to ensure that in 'turbulent' market conditions small market orders are not forgotten but are automatically processed. On 17 July 1995, the NASDAQ stock index closed above the 1,000 mark for the first time. The index peaked at 5048.62 on 10 March 10 2000, which signaled the beginning of the end of the dotcom boom.
Companies listed on the NASDAQ 100 include such global corporations as Adobe, Amazon, Cisco, Dell, Intel, Microsoft, Sun Microsystems and Yahoo.
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