Individual Investors Enjoy Faster Trades And Lower Spreads; Better Technology Has Helped; Nasdaq, NYSE both say they offer investors best method for making trades.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)

Byline: KEN HOOVER

A little more than a year after regulators required stock exchanges to keep statistics that show how well they execute trades, Nasdaq is crowing about its results.

Nasdaq's executives say investors get a better deal on Nasdaq stocks, whether a big cap or small, large order or small. They say their spreads are tighter and their execution faster.

The reason, says Nasdaq chief economist Mike Edleson, is better technology and competition among market-makers and electronic communications networks, known as ECNs. That, he says, has driven down costs.

"The specialist system is a decent system," Edleson said, referring to the NYSE's road-tested method of filling orders. "It's been around a long time. But the invisible hand really works. What better mechanism to show how the free market works than in the stock market?"

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