Many companies/ want to sell stock/ so they can get money/ to expand their business. Stock/ is shares of ownership.

Shares/ can be bought and sold/ on the trading floor/ of a stock exchange. Or they can be traded/ through an over-the-counter market. Such a market/ links dealers directly/ by a computer/ or telephone system.

By nineteen sixty-one, Congress became concerned/ that the over-the-counter market/ was disorganized. So the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed/ that dealers/ use an electronic system/ to organize their sales.

The National Association/ of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations system/ began/ in nineteen seventy-one. Today/ it is known/ as the Nasdaq Stock Market/ or just Nasdaq.

Traditionally, it has offered a home/ to smaller companies. It accepts stocks/ that are lower/ in market value/ and traded less often/ than shares/ on the New York Stock Exchange. But Nasdaq/ also trades big, active stocks. Among them/ is Microsoft, maker of the operating system on most personal computers.

Nasdaq/ provides price information/ for over-the-counter stocks/ as well as many companies/ listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The prices are published/ in newspapers.

On Nasdaq, each stock/ has a number of dealers/ called "market makers." They buy and sell shares/ for themselves/ and investors. Market makers/ use their own money/ as needed.

Nasdaq/ lists about three thousand three hundred companies. It points out/ that it lists more companies/ and trades more shares/ per day, on average, than any other market/ in the country.

But the world's largest stock market/ is the New York Stock Exchange. Major activity/ still takes place/ on a trading floor. Each stock/ is handled/ by one "specialist"/ who acts as a market maker/ and has other duties. Specialists/ are expected/ to keep a "fair and orderly market."

Many people/ want a modern system/ of electronic trading. The exchange/ took a big step/ in April. It announced plans/ to combine with an electronic market, Archipelago. Two days later, competition grew/ when Nasdaq announced an agreement/ to buy Instinet, another electronic trading system.