Nasdaq to Quote Index Before Regular Trading

The Nasdaq Stock Market said Wednesday it will offer an early morning version of its Nasdaq-100 index, addressing a growing interest in trading Nasdaq stocks before the market officially opens for business.

The index tracks the largest Nasdaq stocks, a list dominated by the nation’s biggest technology stocks.

The Nasdaq-100 Pre-Market Indicator will be updated every minute starting at 8:30 a.m. New York time, an hour before trading formally begins. It will be shown on Nasdaq’s Web site (https://www.nasdaq.com) and at Nasdaq’s Times Square building.

Nasdaq found that on a typical day, 60 of the 100 index member stocks trade by 8:40 a.m., and all but five or 10 trade by 9:20 a.m. When a member stock doesn’t trade in that period, its price from the previous day will be used in the indicator.

“Pre-opening information is very important these days, given the speed at which information gets disseminated,” said Patrick Campbell, Nasdaq’s chief operating officer. “The public investor is obviously watching and reading and listening.”

Much of the trading occurs within electronic communication networks, or ECNs, which automatically match buy and sell orders without the intervention of a human trader. Nasdaq’s SelectNet, which Nasdaq broker dealers use to communicate and trade, doesn’t open until 9 a.m.

The new indicator could be a better gauge of market sentiment than futures on the Nasdaq 100 index, according to Nasdaq Senior Vice President Don Bosic.