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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Data News #2010 - 2
NASDAQ OMX Notifies Data Feed Subscribers of Required Changes to Specifications Regarding Equity Symbology

Market Impacted:

  • The NASDAQ Stock Market
  • NASDAQ OMX BX

Contact Information:

What you need to know:

  • The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) recently indicated its intention to begin listing and trading companies using 5-character root symbols.
  • No cash equities exchange currently lists root ticker symbols of more than 4 characters, and there is no uniform symbol suffix plan among markets.
  • NASDAQ OMX has identified numerous outbound specifications and that will require modifications in response to this NYSE initiative.
  • Market participants and market data vendors are urged to immediately evaluate and prepare their own internal and external systems for changes made necessary by this NYSE initiative.
  • Update: NASDAQ OMX posted the symbology compliant versions of the NASDAQ and BX proprietary data feed specifications on February 1, 2010. Please refer to Data Technical News #2010-3 or the NASDAQ OMX Global Data Feeds Specifications page for details.

What is changing?

As announced, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) intends to commence listing and trading companies using 5-character root symbols exclusive of any symbol suffix. NASDAQ OMX® has identified numerous technology specifications and other protocols that will need to be modified in response to this NYSE initiative.

Both NASDAQ® and BX currently have fixed-length specifications, which limit the length of the total ticker symbol (root plus suffix) to 6 characters. Current 4-character root symbol protocols provide for a universe of more than 450,000 unique ticker combinations, of which only approximately 8,000 are in use today.

For both NASDAQ and BX, the following outbound data feeds will be affected:

Market: Feeds Impacted:
NASDAQ
  • NASDAQ TotalView-ITCH 4.0
  • NASDAQ TotalView-ITCH 3.1
  • NASDAQ GLIMPSE 4.0
  • NASDAQ GLIMPSE 3.1
  • NASDAQ TotalView-Aggregated
  • NASDAQ Level 2
  • NASDAQ Best Bid and Offer (QBBO/NASDAQ Basic)
  • NASDAQ Last Sale (NLS)
  • NASDAQ Market Pathfinders
  • NASDAQ Market Velocity and Forces
  • NOIView
  • NASDAQ OUCH Pricing Feed
BX
  • BX TotalView-ITCH 4.0
  • BX TotalView-ITCH 3.1
  • BX GLIMPSE 4.0
  • BX GLIMPSE 3.1
  • BX Best Bid and Offer (BX BBO/BX Basic)
  • BX Last Sale (BLS)
  • BX OUCH Pricing Feed

NASDAQ OMX has worked with BATS and Direct Edge to create a similar approach to accommodate longer tickers.

Will this affect NASDAQ OMX symbology conventions?

To avoid confusion with 5-character root symbols, NASDAQ OMX’s existing suffix plan will need to change in response to the listing of 5-character root symbols. This is in addition to the changes above.

How will I know when the specifications are updated?

NASDAQ OMX is working to update the specifications for all of the affected NASDAQ and BX data feeds. As soon as the updated specifications and implementation plans are finalized, NASDAQ OMX will post Data Technical News items to notify the market data community.

Will this affect my bandwidth?

There is potential for increased bandwidth requirements. When NASDAQ OMX communicates changes to the specifications, any impact to bandwidth will also be addressed.

What do I need to do to prepare for these changes?

Market participants and market data vendors are urged to immediately evaluate and prepare their own internal and external systems for changes made necessary by this NYSE initiative.

Where can I find additional information?


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