NASDAQ

acronym for National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations, American market for over-the-counter (OTC) securities. It is a subsidiary of the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and is monitored by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Nasdaq, created by NASD in 1971, is an automated quotation system that reports on trading of domestic securities not listed on the regular stock markets. By the 1990s it had grown into the second largest securities market in the United States and the third largest in the world. In 1992 it was linked to the International Stock Exchange in London, forming the first intercontinental linkage of markets. Nasdaq lists more than 5,000 securities. To be a member a company must register with the SEC, have at least two market makers (a market maker is a brokerage firm that acts as a principal on either side of an OTC transaction), and meet minimum requirements for assets, capital, public shares, and shareholders. It publishes two composite price indexes daily and also bank, insurance, other finance, transportation, utilities, and industrial indexes.