Nasdaq says investigating technical issue impacting connectivity

The exchange operator had reported similar issues in December, when stock orders were impacted and over 50 clients at the exchange were affected.

Nasdaq, which hosts some of the biggest U.S. tech giants on its exchange, said on Monday it was investigating an issue related to connectivity and stock orders, marking its second technical glitch in months.

The company did not give details about the severity of the issue, but said it was related to the matching engine – software systems that match buy and sell orders on an exchange. The incident started around 4.55 a.m. ET, according to the exchange's website.

Thousands of stocks are listed on the Nasdaq, including those of iPhone maker Apple, electric vehicle-maker Tesla and artificial intelligence semiconductor powerhouse Nvidia.

Nasdaq did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours in the U.S., but an updated alert on its website said it had determined the root cause behind the issue.

The exchange operator had reported similar issues in December, when stock orders were impacted and over 50 clients at the exchange were affected.

Nasdaq said on Monday orders sent using the "RASH FIX" order handling system were not being acknowledged at this time.

FIX, or Financial Information Exchange, is a message protocol that defines an electronic message exchange for communicating securities transactions between two parties.

New York Stock Exchange Arca Equities, which specializes in listings of exchange-traded products, said it had declared a self-help alert against Nasdaq.

Cboe also said it "has declared self-help against another market center, or is actively investigating an issue" without disclosing the identity of the center.

A "self-help" is a notification issued by a trading exchange when another exchange is dealing with internal problems processing trades and orders are routed through alternate venues.