SEC adopts rules to improve investor access to best stock prices .  WASHINGTON 1996-08-28  The Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday approved rules designed to give stock market investors a better chance at getting the best price available for their orders .  The so-called order handling rules , which were proposed last September , were approved in a 4-0 vote .  The new rules will require specialists at stock exchanges and market makers on [START_ENT] Nasdaq [END_ENT] to allow customers to view price quotes from other electronic trading systems that may not be readily available to them .  The rules will also require that customer limit orders be displayed with prices better than those available in quotes publicly available at the time .  Specialists and market makers are companies or individuals recognised as qualified to maintain an orderly market in a stock .  In a limit order , investors specify the price at which they are willing to buy or sell , as opposed to a market order executed at prevailing prices .  " These rules are intended to empower all investors , by allowing their orders to compete on a level playing field , and by providing the disclosure they need to make informed decisions , " said SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt .  The SEC 's goal , he added , was to create " one system where one price could be available to everybody . "  The director of the SEC 's division of market regulation , Richard Lindsey , said Wall Street firms will probably need to spend about $ 7 million to carry out the improvements called for by the new rules .  In proposing the rules last year , the SEC noted that while technology has improved , commonplace practices still existed that worked against investors ' best interests .  It noted that customers whose orders were not displayed lost the chance of getting the best possible price available in the market .  It also cited the potential problem of a two-tiered market in which market makers quote one price to public investors while quoting better prices in private systems , thus robbing investors without access to " hidden " quotes the benefit of the best available prices .  Earlier this month , the SEC settled charges of alleged malpractices on Nasdaq when the parent of the Nasdaq market , the National Association of Securities Dealers , agreed to spend $ 100 million over five years to upgrade its oversight of brokers ' trading practices .  The SEC dropped a third proposal that would have allowed investors with market orders to trade at a better price if there were shifts in prices before their orders were executed .  The agency said it would monitor effects of the two new rules before considering the " price improvement " proposal again .  The agency also proposed rule changes that would require continuous " bid " and " ask " quotations from exchange specialists and market makers who trade more than 1 percent of a stock during any quarter on Nasdaq .  The SEC 's limit order display rule will mean a major change for Nasdaq , where such orders have never been displayed .  The president of the Nasdaq , Alfred Berkeley , was to hold a news conference Wednesday afternoon to elaborate on the new rules ' effects on the market , the second largest in the world .
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