Nasdaq Or NYSE? For the small investor?

From the prospective small investors point of view, which market is the better one to do day trading/ penny stocks .. and why.

Here's something many traders don't know:
To "day trade" or "scalp": A trader MUST have - AT ALL TIMES - AT LEAST $25,000 U.S. CASH in his/her/their trading account.

This does not include any stocks or trades the trad err might be in. This is cold, hard U.S. CASH.

As soon as the account goes one cent below $25K, a whole different set of rules comes into play.

Check with your broker or any broker to confirm what I write. There MAY BE exceptions.

As far as penny shares:
They are far, far, far too risky and volatile.

Thanks for asking your Q! I enjoyed doing my best to answer it.

VTY,
Ron Berue
Yes, that is my real last name!

Thanks to the two folks who voted my answer THE Best Answer! I'm honored!

VTY,
Ron Berue Report It

Nasdaq, because it has more smaller companies, Nasdaq brokerages act as market makers for various stocks. A market maker provides continuous bid and ask prices within a prescribed percentage spread for shares for which they are designated to make a market. They may match up buyers and sellers directly but usually they will maintain an inventory of shares to meet demands of investors

NYSE has big companies such as General Electric, McDonald's, Citigroup, Coca-Cola, Gillette and Wal-mart, is the market of choice for the largest companies in America

For your objectives the Nasdaq exchange better supports electronic communications networks (ECN) which allows traders to directly interact (via the computer of course) with market makers thereby bypassing brokers. Basically you decrease your spread and can achieve faster trades.

My $0.02

Actually it doesn't matter, you can buy stocks on either the NYSE or the Nasdaq. Note that day trading and buying penny stocks are both terrible ideas.

You can't day-trade penny stocks on the NYSE...they are only listed on the OTCBB or pink sheets, which is run by the NASDAQ.
Is this a trick question or did you all really not know that. Besides, you really can't day-trade penny stocks all that well anyway. Liquidity with them is harder than traditional stocks and often times your transactions are pending for days as you are waiting for buyers. Yup, I am speaking from experience. Lost $150, waiting on my ticket to close!!
Freaking sucked. Which is why I avoid them.
But I believe in living and learning, so if you wanna jump on the pennies, than go for it...it will be a lesson well learned...


Hope this helped.

Most of these answers make some valid points for regular day trading, but Kiker has the best answer. Neither the NYSE or NASDAQ trades penny stocks. Both exchanges have listing requirements that include a minimum stock price. If the stock price falls below the minimum for a specificed length of time, the stock is delisted.