The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the merger of exchange operators BATS Global Markets Inc and Direct Edge Holdings LLC, according to a notice on the regulator's website posted on Friday and dated Jan. 23. The combination of the exchanges will create the No. 2 U.S. equities exchange, ahead of Nasdaq OMX Group by volume and just behind IntercontinentalExchange Group's NYSE Euronext unit.
The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (NASDAQ OMX) is a holding company. Shares of NDAQ fell by 2.84% or $-1.1/share to $37.60. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $27.37 and as high as $40.74. On average, 1162560 shares of NDAQ exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 1299653.
Source
