At Deadline – NODES

The deadline for comment on Nasdaq's proposed order delivery and execution system, or NODES, is extended to May 8. (The system, until recently, was popularly referred to as Next Nasdaq). Some experts say parts of NODES will upset some and satisfy others in the trading community.

NODES's limit order display book "logically satisfies the rule for making it a display electronic communications network (ECN)," one expert said. "SelectNet does not qualify as a display ECN because Nasdaq does not have the technology."

Opinion is divided on a proposal that would prevent order- entry firms and individual traders withdrawing limit orders during the 10 seconds that elapse after an order is entered. But you probably guessed. This rule is designed to prevent gaming, or empheral quoting, by day trading firms. That upsets them. But many market makers think the proposal is a step in the right direction.