FINRA FINRA-SERIES-6 - Questions & Answers

Explanation: Stocks that are listed on exchange floors are also traded in the over-the-counter market. The term "third market" refers to over-the-counter trading of listed stocks. All types of securities-stocks, bonds, options, warrants, rights-trade over the counter. The over-the-counter market is a negotiated market, not an auction market.

Explanation: NASDAQ is not an auction market. NASDAQ is a computerized system of geographically dispersed securities' dealers. As such, it is a negotiated market. The NYSE (New York Stock Exchange) and the CHX (Chicago Stock Exchange) are both auction markets.

Explanation: The entity that serves as the auctioneer for trades conducted on an organized exchange floor is known as a specialist. The specialist is assigned stocks by the exchange and is a market maker in those stocks. A registered trader is a private individual who buys and sells on his own account only. Floor brokers and commission brokers execute trades for other investors.

Explanation: The statement that specialists are employees of the exchange on which they oversee trades is false. Specialists are separate firms that are members of the exchange. Specialists are market makers in the stocks that are assigned them by the exchange and can earn profits (or losses) on these investments, just like any other market maker. They are required to maintain a fair and orderly market in their assigned stocks, however, which means they sometimes must trade against the market. They also maintain a central limit order "book" in their assigned stocks.

Explanation: NASDAQ market makers provide investors with assurance that there is a market for the listed security by posting bid and ask prices for it. There is no guarantee, however, that the investor will be able to buy or sell the security at the price he desires or that the investment is high quality and low risk.

Explanation: SuperDOT is an electronic system used to place market and limit orders on the NYSE whereby the orders are routed directly to the specialist in the assigned stocks. It is not an ECN, which is an electronic network that is designed to allow buyers and sellers to interact directly with each other, thereby bypassing the middlemen.

Explanation: In order to enter bid and ask quotes, GoForBroke must subscribe to NASDAQ's Level II I.
Level I simply allows the user to view the highest bid and lowest ask price for a security, and Level II allows the user to view all the bid and ask quotes from all the market makers in a security, but only Level III allows the subscriber to enter quotes. There is no Level IV.

Explanation: The statement that does not describe a characteristic of all U.S. auction stock exchanges is
D. Dual listing is permitted. Stocks listed on one exchange may also be listed on another. In fact, most of
the trading on U.S. regional exchanges is in dual-listed stocks. All of the auction exchanges do have a central marketplace, listed stocks must meet listing requirements, and brokers wishing to conduct trades on the exchange must be members of the exchange or hold a license to trade on the exchange.

Explanation: Exco Resources' new bond issue is a primary market transaction. The primary market refers to the market for new issues. The other three scenarios describe transactions in securities that are already being traded and are secondary market transactions.

Explanation: NASDAQ is a computerized quotation system that is used in the over-the-counter market. It allows NASDAQ market makers to enter bid and ask quotes and allows subscribers at lower levels to view the bid and ask quotes available.