SEC Approves Trading Rules To Aid Small Nasdaq Investors
The Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday approved a far-reaching package of trading rules for the Nasdaq Stock Market intended to guarantee that small investors get just as good a deal as professional traders when they buy and sell stocks.</br></br>If the rules work as planned, individual investors could save a few pennies a share on many Nasdaq tradesÛÓpennies that could add up to millions of dollars on much of the 1.2 billion shares traded on Nasdaq last year.</br></br>The computerized Nasdaq system, headquartered in Wasliington, has grown to rival the New York Stock Exchange as the nation's biggest stock market, listing such prominent companies as Microsoft Corp. and MCI Communications Corp. But it has been criticized by the SEC, the Justice Department and academic researchers for trading practices that favor professionals over small investors.</br></br>Earlier this month, the SEC censured the National Association of Securities Dealers Inc., owner of Nasdaq, for permitting unfair trading practices, and it has been working on regulations to curb such abuses for more than a year.</br></br>"These rules will fundamentally change practices in the securities industry,'' said SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt Jr., who initiated the agency's drive to change Nasdaq.