"The system has been operational for less than 100 trading days, so these milestones are impressive," said Dean Furbush, executive vice president of Nasdaq Transaction Services. "As technology vendors develop more ways to access the Primex Auction System automatically, we expect trading volumes will continue to increase."
The Primex Auction System conducts trading in both Nasdaq and exchange-listed securities. Currently, participants can use the system to trade the largest 1,000 Nasdaq stocks, the Nasdaq-100 Tracking Stock™ (QQQ) and exchange-listed securities included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.
The Primex Auction System conducts auctions in its eligible securities continuously during normal market hours (9:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. Eastern Time). Execution prices are guaranteed to be equal to or better than the best quotes in the National Market System at the time of execution. Most executions in the system occur instantaneously.
The Primex Auction System provides participants a simple and easy way to access liquidity that previously has not been exposed to the market. There are two sides to The Primex Auction. On one side, participants expose their orders to seek price improvement opportunities. On the other side, a crowd competes for those orders, bidding at prices at and within the National Best Bid and Offer (NBBO).
The crowd will typically predefine its auction responses, so that orders being exposed can execute instantly. Additionally, market-making firms that expose their customer orders can commit their own capital to guarantee executions within the system. This eliminates the need to route orders to other market centers for execution.
The current list of securities eligible for trading in Primex will be in effect through the end of June, at which time Nasdaq will begin phasing in the balance of Nasdaq, New York Stock Exchange and American Stock Exchange issues. Traders can view the list of securities currently eligible to trade in the Primex Auction System at: www.primextrading.com/essentials/lookup/
To date, more than 60 broker/dealers have registered as Primex Auction System participants.
Primex Trading N.A., LLC
The Primex Auction System began operation on Nasdaq on December 17, 2001. It is the creation of Primex Trading N.A., LLC, a partnership formed by securities industry brokerage firms and investment banks including Merrill Lynch, Salomon Smith Barney, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. New York-based Primex Trading N.A., LLC conceives, designs, and licenses trading solutions for the securities industry. For more information go to www.primextrading.com, or contact Glen Shipway at glen.shipway@primextrading.com.
The Nasdaq Stock Market
Nasdaq is the world's largest stock market. With more than 4,000 companies, Nasdaq lists more companies and trades more shares per day than any other U.S. market. Over the past five years, Nasdaq has outpaced all other U.S. markets in listing IPOs. It is also home to category defining companies that are leaders across all areas of business including technology, retail, communications, transportation, media and healthcare industries. With operations on three continents, Nasdaq is a key driver of global capital formation. For more information about Nasdaq, visit the Nasdaq Web site at www.nasdaq.com or the Nasdaq NewsroomSM at www.nasdaqnews.com.
