NASD Proposes Change in Counting Trades

The National Assn. of Securities Dealers has proposed to stop “double-counting” some Nasdaq Stock Market trades in which dealers match investor orders without buying or selling shares themselves. The plan, due to be forwarded to the Securities and Exchange Commission for approval later this month, would cut annual dealer fees by as much as $20 million. It also would affect counting for between 2% and 10% of Nasdaq’s annual trading volume. Nasdaq’s volume of 163.9 billion shares last year exceeded by 23% the volume on the rival New York Stock Exchange. The NASD said it proposed the change to adapt its volume counting to a changing market in which these “riskless principal” trades--in which Nasdaq dealers do not risk their own capital--are increasingly common.