What year did the NASDAQ stock exchange open?

The NASDAQ stock exchange opened in 1971.

The Nasdaq Stock Market commenced operations on February 8, 1971, after being established by the National Association of Securities Dealers, or NASD. Its name originally stood for “National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations,” reflecting its initial role as an automated quotation system.

Nasdaq was revolutionary because it began without the traditional exchange trading floor and open-outcry model associated with venues such as the New York Stock Exchange. At first, it mainly displayed dealer quotations rather than matching every trade electronically. Over time, it added systems for order handling, execution, reporting, and increasingly automated trading.

The year is sometimes confused with the launch dates of Nasdaq indexes. The Nasdaq Composite began with a base value of 100 in February 1971, while the Nasdaq-100 was introduced much later, in 1985. Nasdaq also became strongly associated with technology companies during the 1980s and 1990s, but it has always listed businesses from many industries.