Market for 'bulletin board' Stocks launched

Archipelago, a leading US electronic stock trading system, has launched a new marketplace for bulletin board stocks, those that are too illiquid and thinly traded to be listed on the big exchanges.The company decided to proceed with ArcaEdge, as the new electronic venture is called, despite a decision last month by Nasdaq, the number two US stock market, not to go ahead with its own over-the-counter bulletin board marketplace.

Indeed, analysts said Archipelago's determination to launch ArcaEdge may have been a reason Nasdaq pulled the plug on its own OTCBB exchange, a move that was part of a wider retrenchment by Nasdaq as it adjusts to a bear market that is now more than three years old.