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On July 29, 2026, Nasdaq’s new continued listing requirement requiring companies to maintain at least $5 million in Market Value of Listed Securities (MVLS) was automatically stayed. The rule, which the SEC approved on July 22, would have required companies whose MVLS remained below $5 million for 30 consecutive business days to be immediately suspended and delisted, with no compliance period. Although companies would still have been able to appeal to a Nasdaq Hearings Panel, trading on Nasdaq would not have continued during the appeal.
The stay was triggered after the Small Public Company Coalition (SPCC) and Cemtrex each filed notices of their intent to ask the full Commission to review the Division of Trading and Markets’ approval. SPCC says it represents small public companies affected by the rule and participated extensively in the rulemaking process, while Cemtrex says it is directly affected because its MVLS is already below the proposed $5 million threshold and the rule could subject it to suspension and delisting.
Under Rule 431(e) of the SEC’s Rules of Practice, filing a notice of intent to petition for Commission review automatically stays an action taken under delegated authority unless one of a few narrow exceptions applies. As a result, the SEC’s July 29 letter did not itself grant a stay; rather, it confirmed that the approval order had been automatically stayed pending further action by the Commission. The petitioners now have five days to file their petitions for review setting forth the basis for challenging the approval.
For now, Nasdaq’s new $5 million MVLS continued listing requirement is not effective. The Commission must decide whether to review the Division’s approval and, if it does, whether to affirm, modify, reverse, set aside, or remand the matter for further proceedings. The Commission may also decline review. During that process, the stay remains in place, and there is no prescribed timeline for the Commission to reach a decision. Because filing a petition for Commission review is generally a prerequisite to seeking judicial review, the matter could ultimately proceed to a federal court of appeals. If that occurs, the listing requirement could remain stayed during the pendency of the litigation, potentially delaying implementation for a significant period of time.
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