SEC Approves Nasdaq Supermontage Proposal

Washington, DC, February 2, 2001 - The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued an order approving Nasdaq's proposed Order Display Facility and Order Collector Facility, as well as modifications to the Nasdaq trading platform (referred to as SuperMontage). In addition, the SEC is soliciting comments on, and at the same time has granted accelerated approval to, Amendment No. 9 to the proposal.

SuperMontage was initially published for comment in December 1999; in response to public comments, the proposal was amended three more times. The Institute filed several comment letters on SuperMontage, expressing support of its objectives to increase the transparency of limit orders in the Nasdaq market and the ability of those orders to interact with one another.