Nasdaq MarketSite. Image Credit: Italia all’ONU (CC by 2.0).
The Nasdaq is a global electronic exchange used for buying and selling securities. Founded in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), the Nasdaq was one of the first marketplaces to allow investors to trade on a computerized, fast and transparent system rather than a traditional trading floor. It thus became the de facto exchange for emerging tech companies. “Nasdaq” can also be used as shorthand for the Nasdaq Composite Index, an index of 3,000 companies traded on the exchange that include many of the world’s tech giants.
When it was originally founded, NASDAQ was an acronym for National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the Nasdaq became the primary stock exchange for tech companies. The dot com bubble of the early 2000s was reflected in the Nasdaq Composite, falling by 80% in just two years before eventual correction. In 2006, the Nasdaq separated from the NASD, and combined with the Scandinavian exchange group OMX the next year.
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