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Nasdaq
Trader Manual
Notice: This manual is in no way intended to be a substitution for, or relied
upon in lieu of, the rules contained in the NASD Manual.
The design and information contained in this manual are owned by The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc.
(Nasdaq), or one of its affiliates, the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (NASD), NASD
Regulation, Inc. (NASDR), Nasdaq International Ltd., or Nasdaq International Market Initiatives, Ltd.
(NIMI). The information contained in the manual may be used and copied for internal business purposes
only. All copies must bear this permission notice and the following copyright citation on the first page:
“Copyright © 1998, The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. All rights reserved.” The information may not other-
wise be used (not copied, performed, distributed, rented, sublicensed, altered, stored for subsequent use, or
otherwise used in whole or in part, in any manner) without Nasdaq’s prior written consent except to the
extent that such use constitutes “fair use” under the “Copyright Act” of 1976 (17 U.S.C. Section 107), as
amended. In addition, the information may not be taken out of context or presented in a unfair, misleading
or discriminating manner.
THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS PROVIDED ONLY FOR THE PURPOSE OF PRO-
VIDING GENERAL GUIDANCE AS TO THE APPLICATION OF PARTICULAR NASD RULES.
ALL USERS, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, MEMBERS, ASSOCIATED PERSONS AND
THEIR COUNSEL SHOULD CONSIDER THE NEED FOR FURTHER GUIDANCE AS TO THE
APPLICATION OF NASD RULES TO THEIR OWN UNIQUE CIRCUMSTANCES. NO STATE-
MENTS ARE INTENDED AS EXPRESS WARRANTIES.
ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF
ANY KIND. BECAUSE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF HUMAN AND MECHANICAL ERRORS AS
WELL AS OTHER FACTORS, NASDAQ IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ERRORS OR OMIS-
SIONS IN THE INFORMATION. NASDAQ MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS AND DISCLAIMS
ALL EXPRESS, IMPLIED AND STATUTORY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND TO THE USER
AND/OR ANY THIRD PARTY, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTIES OF ACCURACY, TIMELINESS,
COMPLETENESS, MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN
ADDITION, NASDAQ IN PROVIDING THE INFORMATION, MAKES NO ENDORSEMENT OF
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NASDAQ SHALL NOT BE LIABLE TO USER OR TO ANY OTHER ENTITY OR INDIVIDUAL
FOR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUES, TRADES, DATA OR FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL,
PUNITIVE, CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL LOSS OR DAMAGE OF ANY NATURE ARIS-
ING FROM ANY CAUSE WHATSOEVER, EVEN IF NASDAQ HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POS-
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GROSS NEGLIGENCE, NASDAQ (AND AFFILIATES) SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY IN TORT,
CONTRACT OR OTHERWISE TO USER AND/OR ANY THIRD PARTY.
© 1998, The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. All rights reserved. Nasdaq, Nasdaq National Market, OTC
Bulletin Board, and The Nasdaq Stock Market are registered service marks of The Nasdaq Stock Market,
Inc. ACT, CAES, Nasdaq Trader, SelectNet, SOES, and The Nasdaq SmallCap Market are service marks
of The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. Nasdaq Workstation II is a registered trademark of The Nasdaq Stock
Market, Inc. NASD is a registered service mark of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc.
NASDR and NASD Regulation are service marks of NASD Regulation, Inc.
Table of Contents
Nasdaq Trader Manual
Chapter 1 Market Maker Registration
Chapter 2 Market Maker Requirements
Chapter 3 Distribution Requirements
Chapter 4 Nasdaq Execution Services:
SOES And SelectNet
Chapter 5 Trade Reporting
Chapter 6 Trading Halts
Chapter 7 Limit Orders
Chapter 8 Clearly Erroneous Trades
Chapter 9 Short Sales
Chapter 10 Electronic Communications Networks (ECNs)/
Alternative Trading Systems (ATSs)
Chapter 11 Exchange-Listed Securities
Chapter 12 Regulatory Requirements
Chapter 13 ACT Requirements
Chapter 14 OptiMark Trading System
Chapter 15 Training
Table of Contents x
Chapter 1
Revised January 2001
Market Maker Registration
Initial Registration
To quote a Nasdaq® security, your firm must first register as a Market Maker
(according to Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 4600). If your firm is an established
Nasdaq Market Maker, you can register to quote additional stocks through the
“MarketMaking” menu on Nasdaq Workstation II® (NWIITM). Effective as of
September 24, 2000, you can register immediately to quote a Nasdaq issue.
Until the necessary system changes are made, you will need to call Nasdaq
Market Operations at (800) 219-4861 to register. The staff will enter your
registration for you, which will be effective immediately.
Once you register in a security, the rules require you to enter a quotation in that
security within five business day. If you do not enter a quotation within five
business days of the effective of your registration in that security, the system will
delete your registration in the issue on the sixth business day.
Before you can begin quoting any securities on Nasdaq, your firm must be
approved and authorized as a Nasdaq Market Maker. Your firm must meet
financial responsibility and other requirements. For more information or to
apply to become a Market Maker, please contact the Subscriber Services
Department at (800) 777-5606, or visit the “Trading Services” section on the
Nasdaq TraderSM website at nasdaqtrader.com.
Chapter 1 Market Maker Registration 1
[Nasdaq Trader Web Site]
Location Identifiers
When you trade a stock from a location other than your firm’s main trading
desk — such as from a different city, the foreign desk, the convertible bond desk
or arbitrage desk — you must use a fifth-character identifier at the end of your
Market Maker identification (MMID) to identify the location at which it is
being traded. The fifth-character identifier on the MMID notifies other traders
that they should call that location instead of your main Nasdaq trading desk.
When you register in the security, use the applicable character in the
“Loc./Desk” field of the Market Maker Quote Management window on the
Nasdaq Workstation. Please note that the letters (A,B,C, etc.) are not restricted
to the cities shown. However, the character, the location it stands for, and the
phone number should be identified in the Nasdaq Automated Directory. Call
Nasdaq Market Operations at (800) 219-4861 for more information or to
request a change in the listing.
2 Market Maker Registration Chapter 1
[Market Maker Quote Management Window]
Small Order Execution System (SOES)
When you register in a Nasdaq National Market® (NNM) stock, registration in
SOESSM is mandatory and automatic. However, you may need to request
SOES routing for delivery of execution messages. When you register as a Market
Maker in a security in The Nasdaq SmallCap MarketSM (SmallCap), registration
in SmallCap SOES is not mandatory or automatic. If you wish to use SOES for
a SmallCap security, you must contact Nasdaq Market Operations. For more
information on SOES, see Chapter 4.
Chapter 1 Market Maker Registration 3
Phone Number
Nasdaq Market Operations (800) 219-4861
Training
To arrange for training or to request training materials, please contact:
Nasdaq Subscriber Training (212) 858-4084
You may also complete the Subscriber Training request form located at the URL
below.
http://nasdaqtrader.com/asp/GetCustomerInfo.asp?2
or send email to [email protected]
4 Market Maker Registration Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Revised January 2001
Market Maker Requirements
Firm Quote Rule
Once your firm is registered as a Market Maker in a Nasdaq® issue, you are
required by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and National
Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (NASD®), rules to maintain firm, two-
sided, continuous quotations in that issue. This means that you must enter bids
and offers in the stocks in which you make markets, and keep those quotations
current and accessible during normal market hours of 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.,
Eastern Time (ET), Monday through Friday. Electronic communications
networks (ECNs)/alternative trading systems (ATSs) are generally the only
Nasdaq market participants that may publish one-sided bids and/or offers.
Syndicate bids are also one-sided quotes; please see Chapter 3.
The obligation to “keep quotes firm” means that Market Makers and
ECNs/ATSs must honor orders presented to them at their quoted prices and
sizes at all times during market hours and during the extended trading session
(4:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., ET) if a firm’s quotes are open during such time. The
exceptions to this firm quote requirement include when a Market Maker has
just executed an order and is in the process of updating its quote, and/or when
the Market Maker is updating its quote and has sent a quotation update into
Nasdaq. If, as a Market Maker, you are presented with an order at your posted
size and price, and you are not in the process of executing another order or
updating your quote, you must execute the incoming order. If you do not
execute the incoming order, you may be charged with “backing away” from your
quote. See discussion of “backing away” in Chapters 4 and 12.
However, if you are a Market Maker or fully participating ECN/ATS/UTP
Exchange you have no obligation to execute an order presented through
SelectNet®‚ during the normal market session (9:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., ET).
Chapter 2 Market Maker Requirements 1
Orders directed through SelectNet to the above market participants during
normal market hours cannot be “liability” orders. During the extended session if
you are presented with an order at your quoted price but for greater than your
displayed size and you execute less than the full size of the order, after such
execution you must immediately disseminate an inferior quote. Order Entry only
ECN/ATS participants are required to execute directed SelectNet orders at their
quoted price and up to their displayed size.
Size Display Requirements
Market Makers are permitted to quote their actual size when displaying interest
in a security on the Nasdaq National Market® (NNM) or The Nasdaq SmallCap
MarketSM (SmallCap). Thus, a Market Maker must display at least one normal
unit of trading (or larger multiple thereof) when it is not displaying a customer
limit order in compliance with SEC Rule 11Ac1-4.
Please note that when a Market Maker’s quote is executed against in the Small
Order Execution SystemSM (SOESSM), the system will decrement the quote by
the size of the execution in SOES. When the quote is decreased to a size of zero,
a Market Maker has five minutes to update its quote. If no action is taken
within five minutes, the Market Maker is “SOESed out” in that security for 20
business days. For more information on managing displayed quotes please refer
to the Nasdaq User Guide.
Explanation of the Inside Bid and Offer
From all of the Market Maker, ECN/ATS, and UTP participant bids and offers,
Nasdaq calculates the highest bid and the lowest offer, and publishes that
information on the Nasdaq Workstation II® (NWIITM) and through information
vendors around the world. The “inside market”—best bid and offer (BBO)—in
Nasdaq issues is widely disseminated and used for price discovery purposes and
for automated execution parameters.
2 Market Maker Requirements Chapter 2
Effect of SEC Order Handling Rules on Published
Prices and Sizes
Some changes to the price and size quotation requirements occurred with
implementation of the SEC Order Handling Rules in January 1997. In those
rules, the SEC mandated that, with few exceptions, customer limit orders
received in a security in which a firm was a registered Market Maker or specialist
must either be executed immediately at their limit order prices, must be sent to
a Market Maker for immediate execution, or must be reflected in its quote.
Excess Spread Calculation
There are no excess spread rules for quotations in Nasdaq securities.
Locked or Crossed Market Conditions and “Trade-or-
Move”
When the best bid equals the best offer, or when the best bid is higher than the
best offer, the market is considered to be “locked” or “crossed,” respectively.
Market Makers and ECNs/ATSs are required by Nasdaq Marketplace Rules to
enter and maintain quotations in Nasdaq that do not lock or cross the market.
As a Market Maker, you are required to take reasonable steps to avoid locking or
crossing the market. An example of a “reasonable step” would be to enter either
a SOES or a preferenced SelectNet order (as appropriate) into the system to
execute against the bid or offer that your quote would lock or cross. If you don’t
receive a response within 30 seconds of sending either the SOES or preferenced
SelectNet order, you may then display the order in your quote even if that quote
will lock or cross the other side. If you follow these steps, you will not be
deemed to have violated the Lock/Cross Rule.
See Chapter 4 for more information about SelectNet.
Chapter 2 Market Maker Requirements 3
Trade-or-Move
Locks/Crosses Occurring At Or After 9:20 a.m. and Before 9:30 a.m., ET: If a
market participant enters a locking/crossing quotation between 9:20:00 a.m. and
9:29:59 a.m. ET, the market participant must immediately send to the Market
Maker(s) or ECN(s) being locked/crossed a SelectNet order with a “Trade-or-
Move” message appended to the order. The Trade-or-Move order must be priced
at (or better than) the quote of the market participant(s) being locked/crossed.
The Trade-or-Move order(s) must be an aggregate size of 5,000 shares. This
means that if you are locking/crossing a single Market Maker or a single ECN,
you must send one Trade-or-Move Message for 5,000 shares. If you are
locking/crossing multiple market participants, you must send each Market
Maker or ECN a Trade-or-Move Message and the aggregate size of all of these
orders must be at least 5,000 shares.
Locks/Crosses Prior To 9:20 a.m., ET: For locks/crosses that occur prior to 9:20
a.m., ET, any party to a lock/cross would have the right, but not the obligation,
to send, beginning at 9:20 a.m., a Trade-or-Move Message of any size to any
party to the lock/cross. Unlike locks/crosses that occur at or after 9:20 a.m., ET,
however, there is no requirement that the market participant initiating the
lock/cross send a specific number of shares to those being locked/crossed.
Obligations Regarding “Trade-or-Move Messages”
If you receive a Trade-or-Move Message between 9:20:00 a.m. and 9:29:59 a.m.,
ET, you must either execute the full incoming order or else move your quote to
unlock the market within 30 seconds of receipt of the order. You may partially
execute the incoming Trade-or-Move order, but you must then move your quote
out of the way within 30 seconds of having received the Trade-or-Move order.
In addition, if you execute the full size of the Trade-or-Move order, you can
maintain your quote at the locking/crossing price. Thereafter, any party to the
lock/cross has the right, but not the obligation, to send a subsequent Trade-or-
Move order of any size to any other party to the lock/cross. You would still be
obligated to trade with the incoming order or to move your quote, as explained
above. If you receive a Trade-or-Move Message and stay at your quote without
trading in full, this will be considered a violation of NASD Rule 4613(e). In
addition, it could be inconsistent with just and equitable principles of trade for a
4 Market Maker Requirements Chapter 2
market participant to send a Trade-or-Move Message when not required to by
the rule (e.g., before 9:20 a.m. or after 9:30 a.m.) and/or to send a Trade-or-
Move Message that does not meet the requirements of the rule (e.g., at a price
that is inferior to the receiving market participant’s quote). NASD Regulation‚
will monitor for violations of Rule 4613(e) and will bring disciplinary action
when appropriate.
Exception to this General Rule
The only exception to this rule is situations where the Trade-or-Move Message
remains “live” when the market opens (i.e., the 30 seconds to respond to the
Trade-or-Move Message carries over into the market’s opening) because the
lock/cross was created (and the message was sent) in the last 29 seconds before
the market opens. You still have an obligation to trade or move within 30
seconds even if the end of that 30 seconds occurs after the market’s open.
However, the parties to the lock/cross will not have an obligation under Rule
4613(e) to take further action after the 30 seconds has elapsed to resolve the
lock/cross that was created prior to the open. Rather, because the Trade-or-Move
Message remained “live” when the market opened, the parties to the lock/cross
may be deemed to have taken reasonable action to resolve the lock/cross. This
assumes that the parties have fully complied with their obligations under the
rule by sending timely Trade-or-Move Messages when received.
For more information on locked or crossed market conditions specific to Trade-
or-Move see NASD Notice to Members 00-29 “SEC approves changes to
Locked/Crossed Market Rule”.
Withdrawal of Quotes
There are two types of quote withdrawals—temporary excused and unexcused.
As a Market Maker, you may withdraw a quote on a temporary basis for certain
reasons, without having to wait 20 business days to reregister, by contacting
Nasdaq Market Operations to effect a temporary or “excused” withdrawal. If you
would like to withdraw quotations (Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 4619) on a
temporary excused basis, you must first contact Nasdaq Market Operations at
(800) 219-4861 (see “Excused Withdrawals” below). In the case of excused
Chapter 2 Market Maker Requirements 5
withdrawals due to underwriting participation, please refer to Chapter 3 for
more information.
If you withdraw quotations on an unexcused basis—whether voluntarily or due
to SOES exposure exhaustion—your firm will be subject to a penalty period of
20 business days before it may reregister in the security.
Excused Withdrawals
Following are the reasons why your temporary withdrawal from quoting a stock
may be excused:
s Circumstances beyond the control of the Market Maker—such as equipment
or communication problems, personal emergency, natural disaster, or other
similar reasons.
s Legal reasons (such as investment banking activity), when accompanied by
appropriate documentation.
s Vacation, if your firm has three or fewer NWIIs, provided your written
request is made one business day in advance.
s Religious observance, provided your written request is made one business day
in advance.
s Involuntary failure to maintain a clearing arrangement.
s Passive market making and secondary offering participation.
If your compliance officer instructs you to “get out of a stock,” you should
contact Nasdaq Market Operations immediately. You will be advised whether
written documentation is necessary, and then Nasdaq will decide whether to
effect the withdrawal on an “excused” basis. If you withdraw your quote by
keyboard entry, without notifying Nasdaq Market Operations - even if the
reason is justified under the rules - you may have to wait 20 business days before
you can reregister in the stock. We advise you to call Nasdaq Market Operations
whenever you decide to cease making a market in a Nasdaq stock temporarily,
to ensure that you remain in compliance.
If one of your traders will be out of the office for a religious observance, it may
be possible to obtain an excused withdrawal for the issues traded by that
6 Market Maker Requirements Chapter 2
individual. Again, you should contact Nasdaq Market Operations and fax the
written request for withdrawal for religious observances at least one business day
in advance of the withdrawal date. Send your fax to Nasdaq Market Operations
at (800) 219-4861. If only selected securities are to be excused, it is
recommended that the fax include a list of those securities.
Similarly, Nasdaq may grant an excused withdrawal for a trader’s vacation, if
your firm has three or fewer terminals with Nasdaq market-making capability.
Your written request must be made at least one business day in advance of the
withdrawal and you will need to fax a list of the securities to be excused to
Nasdaq Market Operations at (800) 219-4861.
With regard to withdrawals for participation in distributions, please refer to
Chapter 3 for information on Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 4619.
Following an excused withdrawal, you are required to reenter quotations into
the Nasdaq system promptly. Failure to do so is a violation of the Firm Quote
Rules described above, and may then result in a 20-day suspension from making
a market in the stock. Once the excused withdrawal period is completed, simply
update your bid/offer quotation to reestablish your position in the issue.
Equipment Problems or Circumstances Beyond Your
Control
If your firm is experiencing equipment problems or other circumstances beyond
its control, and cannot update its quotes, you must request to close your markets
by contacting Nasdaq Market Operations immediately. Your quotations will
then appear at the bottom of the Market Maker quote montage with a “C” or
“F” notation. The “C” or “F” notation indicates that your quotations are not
firm and that you are not subject to SOES executions or responsible for
SelectNet liability orders directed to you. Additionally, the “F” indicator means
you are willing to receive phone inquiries, although your quotes are not firm.
You may not, however, close your markets because of market volatility. Nasdaq
Marketplace Rule 4619 prohibits a withdrawal due to pending news or an influx
Chapter 2 Market Maker Requirements 7
of orders or price changes, or to trades with competitors. Excused withdrawals
are restricted to reasons of “circumstances beyond a Market Maker’s control.”
If you have received an excused withdrawal because you are on vacation, you
run the risk of losing that status if you execute orders as a Market Maker in
SelectNet during your scheduled vacation time. The use of SOES or SelectNet
as a Market Maker while you have excused withdrawal status can cause you to
lose your excused status and you may be considered to be in a state of voluntary
(unexcused) withdrawal, resulting in a 20-day penalty period.
Market
Maker
Quote
Montage
Appeal Procedure
If your request for an excused withdrawal is denied by Market Operations, you
may request an appeal. The Market Operations Review Committee has
jurisdiction over such appeals. If you wish to request an appeal, call Nasdaq
Market Operations at (800) 219-4861. By rule, your request must be made in
writing, but Nasdaq Market Operations will facilitate your hearing and act as
liaison between you and the appeal committee.
8 Market Maker Requirements Chapter 2
Voluntary and Accidental Withdrawals
If you have decided not to continue making a market in a Nasdaq security, you
may withdraw from it voluntarily by entering a withdrawal through your NWII
or other Nasdaq subscriber interface. Once you have done this, you will not be
able to reregister to quote the issue for 20 business days, so proceed cautiously.
Although Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 4620 makes allowance for accidentally
withdrawing from a stock, we strongly recommend that your firm have a
withdrawal procedure in place. For example, your head trader, compliance
officer, or other responsible party should make sure that there is no further
trading interest in the stock and that there is no pending investment banking or
syndicate involvement in the issue.
If you have accidentally withdrawn from an issue, call Nasdaq Market
Operations at (800) 219-4861 immediately. Your verbal request must be made as
soon as possible, but no more than 60 minutes from the time of withdrawal. You
must fax a written confirmation of your verbal request to Nasdaq Market
Operations at (800) 219-4861, immediately. Nasdaq Market Operations requires
that the request be approved by your firm’s head trader, compliance director, or
other authorized individual, and that the written confirmation be submitted by
one of these people.
Your registration may be reinstated if it is clear that the withdrawal was
inadvertent and not an attempt to avoid market-making obligations. Other
factors that may be considered are the timeliness of the request, market
conditions at the time of withdrawal, the number of such reinstatements for the
firm, etc. Firms are subject to the following reinstatement limits: a firm that
made less than 250 markets during the previous calendar year cannot receive
more than two reinstatements; firms that made at least 250 markets, but less
than 500 markets can receive up to three reinstatements; firms that made 500
or more markets can receive up to six reinstatements per year.
If your request to Nasdaq Market Operations for reinstatement due to an
accidental withdrawal is denied by Nasdaq Market Operations, you may appeal
to the Market Operations Review Committee, which has jurisdiction over such
matters. Follow the procedure previously described.
Chapter 2 Market Maker Requirements 9
SOES Withdrawal
With regard to withdrawal due to SOES executions under Nasdaq Marketplace
Rule 4700, if your size in a Nasdaq National Market stock is reduced to zero
through SOES executions, your quote is placed in a “SOES closed” state. You
will be given a grace period (currently five minutes) to reenter a quotation. If
you do not reenter a quote within that period, the system will suspend your quote
in that issue for 20 business days. See Chapter 4 for more information on SOES.
If your firm experiences system problems and you are not able to update your
quotes before the five-minute window elapses, you must contact Nasdaq Market
Operations to have your quotes temporarily withdrawn. Nasdaq Marketplace
Rule 4730 stipulates that if your ability to update quotations becomes impaired
due to equipment or communication problems, you must contact Nasdaq
Market Operations to have your market placed in a “closed” state. You are liable
for any executions until this is done and subject to the 20-day period if you are
“SOESed-out-of-the-box.” See Chapter 4 for information on responding to
SOES executions.
Nevertheless, if you are suspended in a security due to SOES exhaustion, you
can seek reinstatement of your registration by contacting Nasdaq Market
Operations as soon as possible after the withdrawal, but no more than 60
minutes later. You must fax a written confirmation of your verbal request to
Nasdaq Market Operations at (800) 219-4861, immediately. To be considered
for reinstatement, you must be a primary Market Maker in the issue and a
designated officer of Nasdaq must determine that there was no attempt to avoid
market-making obligations. Firms are limited to the total number of “SOES
registration reinstatements” as follows: firms that made less than 250 markets
during the previous calendar year cannot receive more than four reinstatements;
firms that made 250 markets, but less than 500, are limited to six
reinstatements; firms that made 500 or more markets can receive no more than
twelve reinstatements.
Even if your firm has reached its limit on reinstatements, under certain
circumstances a designated Nasdaq officer may grant a reinstatement if it is
believed that it is necessary to maintain a fair and orderly market. Such reasons
may include a documented system failure at the firm, lack of Market Makers in
10 Market Maker Requirements Chapter 2
an issue, or if the firm is a manager or co-manager of a secondary offering in the
affected stock. Please note that chronic system problems under the control of a
firm will not be considered.
If your request for reinstatement due to a SOES withdrawal is denied by Nasdaq
Market Operations, you may appeal to the Market Operations Review
Committee, which has jurisdiction over such matters. Follow the procedure
previously described.
Convertible Bonds
Convertible bonds are listed on Nasdaq and in many ways appear to be treated
as equities, but some of the Market Maker requirements, as explained below,
differ from equities. Convertible bonds do not have an “NM” or “N” symbol on
the NWII screen to denote National Market or SmallCap, respectively.
Quotations
Quotations in convertible bonds listed on Nasdaq are required to be firm,
continuous, and two-sided, as they are with Nasdaq equities; but, convertible
bonds are exempt from the quotation size requirements of Nasdaq equities.
Convertible bonds are not subject to SOES executions.
Unit of Trading
The generally accepted unit of trading for a convertible bond is 10 bonds, at a
face value of $1,000 each.
Trade Reporting Requirements
Trades in convertible bonds must be reported to Nasdaq within 90 seconds of
execution through the Automated Confirmation Transaction ServiceSM
Chapter 2 Market Maker Requirements 11
(ACTSM), similar to transactions in equity securities; however, only trade reports
in units of 99 bonds or less will be disseminated to the public.
Limit Order Protection Rule
The Limit Order Protection Rule provides that a member firm may negotiate
terms and conditions with customers who have limit orders of 10,000 shares or
more, so long as the value of the order is $100,000 or more. The Interpretation
does not address the size limit for convertible bonds directly, but by implication,
there is a comparable-size restriction for convertible bonds. A unit of trading for
convertible bonds quoted on Nasdaq is 10 bonds or $10,000 original principal
amount; so, for the purposes of the Short Sale Interpretation, an institutional-
sized convertible bond limit order is 100 bonds or $100,000. Therefore, a
member firm can negotiate terms and conditions with a customer with a
convertible bond limit order of $100,000 or more. For more general information
on limit order protection, see Chapter 7.
Unlisted Trading Privileges (UTP)
Section 12(f) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 permits exchanges to
extend “unlisted trading privileges” (UTP) to securities listed on other U.S.
securities exchanges or markets. Through UTP, other exchanges and markets are
able to compete with, and attract order flow from, the primary market—the
market or exchange that lists a particular security. Unlike the primary market, a
market that trades a security pursuant to UTP has no contractual or other
relationship with the issuer. The SEC has traditionally endorsed and supported
UTP trading because such activity promotes competition among markets which,
in turn, contributes to greater liquidity and depth, enhancing pricing efficiency,
and increasing opportunities for investors to receive the best execution of their
orders.
Although all securities listed on the Nasdaq National Market and the New York
and American Stock Exchanges are eligible for UTP trading by other markets or
exchanges, there is a limit to how many Nasdaq National Market securities an
exchange can trade at one time, pursuant to UTP rules. Currently, the limit is
12 Market Maker Requirements Chapter 2
1,000, and the Chicago Stock Exchange is the only UTP participant actively
trading securities.
Trading With an Exchange
Transactions in Nasdaq National Market securities traded on an exchange are
not subject to the NASD Short Sale Rule, but may be subject to applicable rules
governing trading on the particular exchange. In addition, orders that are sent
to the floor of an exchange and executed there are generally reported by the
exchange, and thus, the NASD member should not report these transactions again.
Exchanges that trade Nasdaq stocks via UTP now have access to SelectNet.
Thus, NASD members and exchange specialists can now access each other’s
quotes. This is important in light of the SEC Order Handling Rules, because
quotes of UTP exchanges trading Nasdaq stocks are reflected in the Nasdaq
quote montage.
Primary Market Making
Primary Market Maker standards were adopted when The Nasdaq Stock
Market® implemented the NASD Short Sale Rule. The Primary Market Maker
standards were designed to reward Market Makers that added liquidity to
the market by giving them an exemption to the Short Sale Rule. For more
information on short sales, see Chapter 9.
The primary market-making standards in Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 4612 (time
at the inside, spread, quote/trade ratio, and proportionate share volume) were
suspended on February 3, 1997. Only the “Secondary Hold” Rule remains in
effect. This rule prohibits Market Makers that are not making a market in a
stock at the time of the announcement of a secondary distribution from
becoming primary Market Makers in that issue for 40 calendar days or until the
offering becomes effective.
Primary Market Makers are exempt from the Short Sale Rule, thereby allowing
them to sell short at the bid on a down tick. At this time, any registered Market
Chapter 2 Market Maker Requirements 13
