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The NASDAQ Opening and Closing Crosses

Overview

TIMELINESS | TRUST | LIQUIDITY | TRANSPARENCY | RELIABILITY
NASDAQ Crosses More Amex-Listed Securities than Amex

Week of 10/01/2007 to Week of 5/05/2008
Opening of Amex Securities
Percentage of Shares Executed at Open by Market Center

View Data

 

The NASDAQ Opening and Closing Crosses are price discovery facilities that cross orders at a single price. The crosses enable market participants to execute on-open and on-close interest and provide unparalleled transparency. Market makers and other industry professionals have repeatedly demonstrated their willingness and ability to offset imbalances that are entered into the cross. The crosses generate opening and closing prices that are widely used by industry professionals including Russell Indexes, Standard & Poor’s and Dow Jones.

Share Volume in the NASDAQ Crossing Network
Date Total Opening Cross Total Closing Cross
06/30/2008 19,713,194 64,089,746
06/27/2008 15,422,301 907,226,482
06/26/2008 15,826,114 54,037,752
06/25/2008 13,117,643 39,754,128
06/24/2008 16,746,737 31,504,693

Visit our FTP for historical data.

Crossing Success

NASDAQ has led the way in crossing technology, as shown by the highly successful Opening and Closing Crosses. In fact, on index and rebalance days, cross volume is in the hundreds of millions. During the 2007 Russell Reconstitution, NASDAQ's Closing Cross processed over 678 million shares, representing $11.7 billion, in a record 1.9 seconds.

Security Eligibility

All nationally-listed securities are eligible for the Crosses. All new listings on NASDAQ are added to the Opening and Closing Crosses on the first day of trading.

On Monday, November 5, 2007, NASDAQ completed its roll-out by adding approximately 5,000 additional securities into the NASDAQ Opening and Closing Crosses. Please refer to Head Trader Alert #2007-220 for complete details.

Order Types

ON-OPEN ORDERS Specifically request an execution at the opening price. Can be limit-on-open (LOO) or market-on open (MOO).
IMBALANCE-ONLY OPEN ORDERS Provides liquidity intended to offset on-open orders during the Opening Cross.
  • Must be priced (limit), no market IO orders.
  • IO buy/sell orders only execute at or above/below the 9:30 a.m., ET, offer/bid.
ON-CLOSE ORDERS Specifically request an execution at the closing price.
  • Can be limit-on-close (LOC) or market-on-close (MOC).
IMBALANCE-ONLY CLOSE ORDERS Provides liquidity intended to offset on-close orders during the Closing Cross.
  • Must be priced (limit), no market IO orders.
  • IO buy/sell orders only execute at or above/below the 4:00 p.m., ET, bid/ask.

Imbalance Data

NASDAQ disseminates Opening Cross Net Order Imbalance information every five seconds between 9:28 and 9:30 a.m., Eastern Time (ET), and Closing Cross Net Order Imbalance information between 3:50 and 4:00 p.m., ET. This data is available by subscription only via:

The Net Order Imbalance Indicator makes information available that allows for increased liquidity and better trade performance. NOII can have a very positive impact on traders’ ability to perform effectively in a highly competitive environment. It provides users with invaluable details about the opening and closing orders and the likely opening and closing prices of a security, insight that can help reveal new trading opportunities.

Firms should contact their market data vendors and service bureaus directly regarding the availability of NASDAQ Net Order Imbalance information.