That article is about Introduction: NASDAQ. NASDAQ is an acronym for National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation. This stock exchange came into existence by 1971. It is located in the New York City, USA and Robert Greifeld is the present CEO of this stock exchange.
The NASDAQ OMX Group manages the daily functions of NASDAQ. As of today, approximately 3800 publicly traded companies are listed with NASDAQ and this includes some of the biggest corporate giants such as Google, Microsoft, Apple and Amazon. Due to the sheer number of companies listed under this stock exchange, it is tough or impossible to replicate the trade volume generated by NASDAQ elsewhere in the globe.
Ever since its inception in 1971, NASDAQ has been successful in generating various kinds of headlines. Back in those days, when electronic networks were still unknown to the greater share of the population, NASDAQ became the world’s first electronic stock exchange.
Even on this day, trading is done with the aid of automated trading systems that are interlinked through an elaborate system of computers. During the initial days, the interaction of NASDAQ with the public traders was minimal. Traders used to ponder over a computer bulletin board placed near the exchange to find the equity values.
With the introduction of computers and with the advent of the internet, the situation began to change. Traders could now purchase and sell shares through the internet. In addition, NASDAQ began talks with the London Stock Exchange to enable the trading of securities across continents. As the trade volume began to surge, it began acquiring some of the lesser-known stock exchanges in the country such as the American Stock Exchange and the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange happens to be one of the oldest trading platforms since it was established in 1790.
The normal trading session of NASDAQ is from 9:30am to 16:00. One of the attractive practices widely executed in NASDAQ is the off-hours trading. Traders can execute pre-market and post-market sessions from 7:00am to 9:00am and from 16:00 to 20:00 respectively. Trading takes place during the weekdays only. It does not occur in the weekends and during public holidays.
The NASDAQ 100 happens to be a group of 100 companies selectively chosen by an expert panel. The panel determines the present ranking of a company based on the performance of the company equities in the stock market. One can learn the pulse of the market by looking into the NASDAQ 100 index.
The very fact that some of the largest corporations in the world chose to trade with NASDAQ happens to be a testimony of the potentiality of this stock exchange. The execution of the trading procedures through the internet enables an unambiguous experience to the brokers and shareholders.
Many websites are already present that specialize in the real time display of NASDAQ 100 quotes. The demand for pre-market and after hours NASDAQ quotes is also on the rise since a good share of the trading occurs during these times. Please keep us posted with your experiences.