The Advanced Computerized Execution System (ACES) is a

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

subscription service The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century, an ...

paid for by

market maker A market maker or liquidity provider is a company or an individual that quotes both a buy and a sell price in a tradable asset held in inventory, hoping to make a profit on the '' bid–ask spread'', or ''turn.'' The benefit to the firm is that ...

s that allows order-entry firms trading in Nasdaq Capital Market and Nasdaq global market

stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...

s access to a market maker's internal trading system to route to them using the ACES "Pass-Through". The market maker then executes the order internally, and sends a confirmation and

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct exch ...

report back through ACES to the order entry firm. ACES acts as an order-routing interface between a firm entering orders, of any security, and a market maker's order management system. ACES is a voluntary service for which market makers must register. Once officially registered, market makers can then authorize their order entry customers to send them an order flow. Securities are designed as specified for automatic execution. ACES automatically sends the trade information to Automated Confirmation Transaction Service ( ACT) for reporting. Part of the evolution of ACES includes the elimination of the execution function in 1998 with the introduction of new order handling rules. These rules encouraged Nasdaq participants to manage their order file internally rather than on ACES. The choice to keep the 'E' in ACES was merely because the acronym wasn't complete without it.

References

Financial markets Nasdaq {{Stockexchange-stub