Nasdaq Swoons on Facebook Open

The exchange-operator had to postpone the listing of the social media giant for half an hour this morning.

NEW YORK - If we needed further proof that Facebook's IPO was a big deal, exchange-operator Nasdaq experienced trouble when commencing the third-largest initial public offering in U.S. history.

According to MarketWatch:

Exchange operator Nasdaq OMX Group NDAQ -2.96% in a system status message said it was “experiencing a delay in delivering the opening print” in shares of Facebook FB +7.40% . The message at 11:13 a.m. Eastern came after Nasdaq delayed opening trades by five minutes from the original anticipated start time of about 11:00 a.m.
The first trades in Facebook started at 11:31 a.m., according to FactSet Research data. The shares popped 11% higher in heavy volume to about $42 from their IPO price of $38 a piece.
In an another update shortly before noon, Nasdaq said it was “investigating an issue in delivering trade execution messages,” related to Facebook shares.

So far, Nasdaq's system challenge does not approach the sheer debacle of BATs IPO flame-out last month.

Media reports quoted Nasdaq representatives saying that the exchange operator is looking into the overall situation.

Phil Albinus is the former editor-in-chief of Advanced Trading. He has nearly two decades of journalism experience and has been covering financial technology and regulation for nine years. Before joining Advanced Trading, he served as editor of Waters, a monthly trade journal ... View Full Bio