"As one of the most closely watched barometers of market activity in the world, the NASDAQ-100 Index and its eligibility criteria are periodically reviewed to ensure that they reflect the largest, non-financial companies listed on NASDAQ," said John Jacobs, executive vice president, NASDAQ Financial Products. "There are over 400 products in 28 countries that track the NASDAQ-100 Index. It has truly become a world class financial benchmark".
Changes to the criteria for inclusion in the index include:
- Doubling the minimum average daily trading volume criteria to 200,000 from 100,000 shares;
- Removing additional market capitalization thresholds for foreign securities;
- Requiring a company that has been listed on a public market less than two years to be in the top 25% of the current Index securities by market value for the previous six consecutive months; and
- Prohibiting securities from being included if the annual financial statements of the issuer of the securities cannot currently be relied upon.
- Establishing a minimum market value threshold requiring a security to equal or exceed
- 10% of the Index at the end of each month; and subjecting securities to removal from the Index if they fail to meet this threshold for two consecutive months; and
- Prohibiting securities from being included if the annual financial statements of the issuer of the securities cannot currently be relied upon.
