SEC Approves New Nasdaq Trading System

In one of the few bright notes to come its way in recent months, Nasdaq won the blessing of the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday to dramatically revamp its electronic quote and order-processing system and give investors multiple bid and ask prices for stocks.

Nasdaq welcomed the decision, and said the new system, called SuperMontage, will allow it to provide more information to traders and investors, particularly when the market converts to trading securities in increments of one penny rather than the current one-eighth of a dollar fractions.

"The process we've gone through to get to this point has been difficult, but it was worth it," Frank Zarb, chairman and CEO of Nasdaq's parent company, the National Association of Securities Dealers, said in a statement. "SuperMontage will be a breakthrough innovation and another example of Nasdaq using the latest technology for the benefit of all market participants and investors," he said.

SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt, who is retiring from the commission, said the new system "is Nasdaq's effort to develop a more modern trading infrastructure in response to specific and concrete demands by its members. It constitutes the centerpiece of its strategy for competing with both domestic and global markets."

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