NASDAQ Level II

Nasdaq Level II is a day trading system providing a list of all buyers and sellers for each stock day traded on the Nasdaq exchange. Bids (i.e. offers from buyers) are arranged in price order (highest to lowest) and Asks (sellers) are arranged from lowest to highest price. NASDAQ Level II allows a stock day trader to determine the depth of the market and can therefore help in deciding whether to day trade or not (depth is 'size' - is the stock liquid or not). In order to use a level II system successfully, a day trading player must understand the importance of each participant and market maker on the screen. A direct access day trading system that incorporates NASDAQ Level II is makes day trading more likely to succeed, as it 'levels the field'. If you are day trading via a spread betting account, the information is of no use to you as there is effectively only 1 market maker - your spread betting firm.