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NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SECURITIES DEALERS AUTOMATED QUOTATIONS (SYSTEM) (NASDAQ)

The National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations system (NASDAQ) is a computerized communication system that provides the bid and asked prices of more than 5,000 over-the-counter (OTC) stocks that have met NASDAQ's registration requirements. Introduced in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ achieved a listing of more than 4,000 companies and an annual trading volume of over __BODY__ billion by the early 1990s. It is the second largest securities market in the United States in terms of share and dollar volume, but it is the largest in terms of the number of companies listed.

By late 1997, NASDAQ listed approximately 5,500 companies, compared to some 3,000 listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Even though NASDAQ has many more listed firms than the NYSE, market capitalization of NYSE-listed firms was greater, around $8.7 trillion compared to __BODY__.95 trillion for NASDAQ-listed firms. NASDAQ is known as the market for smaller companies, and especially for technology firms. A large percentage of NASDAQ's market capitalization comes from technology companies.

See also: New York Stock Exchange, Over the Counter Market, Stock, Stock Market