The NASDAQ (acronym for National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations system) is an American stock market founded on February 8, 1971. It is owned and operated by The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc. and is the largest electronic screen-based online trading equity securities market in the United States.

In 1971, NASDAQ became the world's first exclusively electronic trading market for equities, and it now serves millions of people all over the world. NASDAQ has become the United States' most rapidly growing stock market, and the market with the most listings from outside the US. It now leads all American markets in trading volume and in companies listed. The most frequently mentioned index, the NASDAQ Composite, has been published each day for 36 years. The large-cap NASDAQ 100 Index was introduced in 1985, as was the Financial Index covering stocks in that sector.

Since March 1 2007 5,100 large, small, and growing companies are now household names and trade using this electronic market. The system known as the American Financial Market share trade with two out of every seven corporations. Type A NYSE securities makeup for approximately 14-15% of the traded shares. Tape C, on the other hand, accounts for about 45-98% of volume traded by these companies.

The Stock Market named NASDAQ uses a sliding fee method based on the quantity of trading the market parts enact on the NASDAQ systems. The higher the volume done on this system, the lower the removal fee for liquidity and the more favourable the additional liquidity rebates.

The online trading market operates in a system under which 'Market Makers' compete with each other for the best buying and selling prices. Market Makers provide depth of market to companies by standing ready to commit capital to stocks in which they are registered and by providing immediate and continuous trading in a company's stock. Buyer and sellers are willing to trade more frequently and investors are more willing to hold securities, because they know they can sell them more readily.

The quotes are available at three levels. Level I shows the highest bid and lowest offer - the inside quote. Level II shows all public quotes of market makers together with information of market makers wishing to sell or buy stock and recently executed orders. Level III is used by the market makers and allows them to enter their quotes and execute orders. By continuing to shape the new world of investing, NASDAQ is challenging the very definition of what a stock market is and what it can be.