What is the "NASD"?
If you think about NASD the name, it's the National Association of Securities Dealers. NASD is really the association of stock brokerage firms. What they have done is that the NASD is really a self-regulating body that goes out and regulates just the brokerage firms, the big wirehouse firms, and the individual brokerage firms that are trading stocks for commission. They fall under the NASD for regulations and rules and enforcement. The NASD is given that right to do that by the SEC.