what is the nasdaq capital market 
the nasdaq capital market is one of nasdaq s u s market tiers containing early stage companies that have relatively lower market capitalizations listing requirements for companies on the nasdaq capital market are less stringent than for the two other nasdaq market tiers which focus on larger companies with higher market capitalization understanding the nasdaq capital marketthe nasdaq capital market known until 2005 as the nasdaq smallcap market primarily lists so called small cap stocks typically those with market capitalizations of around 300 million to 2 billion the name change reflected a shift in focus towards listing companies that need to raise capital it s meant to be a less encumbered entrance for a smaller company or a special purpose acquisition company spac to capitalize and grow through a nasdaq listing 12although the initial listing requirements are relaxed the corporate governance required to maintain a nasdaq listing is the same across all tiers this means nasdaq capital market companies must have a code of conduct an audit committee independent directors and so on 3listing requirements for the nasdaq capital marketthe nasdaq capital market makes it easier for early stage companies to get listed especially when compared to other senior exchanges with more onerous requirements to list initially on the nasdaq capital market companies must meet all of the criteria under at least one of three listing standards the equity standard the market value of listed securities standard or the net income standard all the standards share some requirements such as one million publicly held shares 300 shareholders and three market makers mms however these also differ in important ways the equity standard requires stockholders equity of 5 million where the other two require only 4 million and it also requires an operating history of two years while the other two do not require an operating history the market value of listed securities requires a market value of listed securities of 50 million and a market value of publicly held shares of 15 million the net income standard is the only one requiring a net income 750 000 in the latest fiscal year or in two of the last three years but has the lowest requirement for market value of publicly held shares at 5 million 4although companies can pick the standard that best fits their situation the listing standards and the required governance are more stringent than some early phase capital markets because of the costs involved with meeting these standards companies listing on the nasdaq capital market often handily exceed the minimum requirements before they decide to list 5other early phase capital markets like the alternative investments market or aim have positioned themselves as lighter regulation destinations to provide bridge listings for companies as they grow large enough for the nasdaq 6nasdaq listing tiersthe nasdaq exchange has three tiers for listed companies 7the listing requirements for each tier require varying levels of documentation average market capitalization over the previous month and a number of shareholders companies may move from one tier to another over time depending on how they meet requirements the top tier nasdaq global select typically has about 1 400 companies listed while the lower tiers fluctuate around 650 to 1 300 companies each 8910