Nasdaq Slashes Non-Professional Fee For Access To Market Participant Quotations

The Nasdaq Stock Market® announced yesterday that it will introduce a one year pilot program that creates a non-professional user fee of $10 per month for in-depth access to market participant quotation information. The 80% fee reduction was approved last week at a meeting of the NASD Board of Governors and must be approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission prior to implementation.

Nasdaq Quotation Dissemination Service (NQDS) data allows subscribers to view real-time quotation information from all Market Makers and electronic communication networks (ECNs) in each Nasdaq security. NQDS subscribers can see the source of the best prices in the Nasdaq market and the depth of market participant interest at inferior price levels.

NQDS, which is sometimes referred to as Nasdaq Level 2, can be accessed through services offered by numerous on-line brokerage firms and market data vendors. Currently, NQDS information is available to professional and non-professional subscribers at rate of $50 per month. This 80% reduction in the NQDS fee for individual investors follows Nasdaq's recent reduction of the non-professional fee for Level 1 information form $2 to $1.

"By slashing the cost for individual investors and other nonprofessionals to access Nasdaq market data to just $10 per month, we continue our ongoing effort to provide investors with the most information possible at the lowest price," said Frank G. Zarb, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nasdaq.

The Nasdaq Stock Market lists nearly 5,000 companies, has a larger dollar volume, and trades more shares per day than any other U.S. market. Nasdaq is a subsidiary of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (NASD®), the largest securities-industry, self-regulatory organization in the United States. For more information about Nasdaq, visit the Nasdaq Web site at www.nasdaq.com or the Nasdaq NewsroomSM at www.nasdaqnews.com.